'I felt very worthless': 3 P.E.I women share their experiences dealing with police after alleged druggings

Warning: This story contains disturbing details of sexual assault. A list of resources for people who have experienced sexual violence appears at the end. 

It's been nearly 12 years since Shawna Perry, 31, watched in disbelief as police closed her case, despite the medical examination and rape kit she says found evidence of foreign DNA and drugging.

A decade later, she still has questions about her case and how it was handled. For nearly three weeks, she's been trying to access her police file — without success.

"[It] feels like no one is too interested in helping," she recently told CBC News. 

In addition to Perry, two other Island women — Rebecca Shepherd and Maddy Duffy — say that they reported to police, believing they had been drugged, and that their experiences dealing with the Charlottetown Police Services left them feeling dejected and humiliated. 

The women are speaking out following a CBC News investigation that showed police decided against investigating 17 reports of drink spiking, many of them from 2010 and 2011, that were presented to them in June 2021.

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CBC News also revealed that no one has faced criminal charges for drink tampering in relation to 16 reports separately brought to Charlottetown police over the last 20 years.

Since the investigation was published, 18 people have spoken to CBC News or disclosed on social media that they believe they were drugged on P.E.I. The majority of those complainants said they didn't report to police, in part because they didn't believe the police would be able to help them.

CBC News sought to speak with Charlottetown Police Services about the dozens of official and unofficial reports, as well as the allegations in this story made by the women who came forward to CBC about their interactions with the force, but received no reply to those requests. 

On Wednesday, when Charlottetown Police Chief Brad MacConnell was reached directly by phone, he said it was not a good time, and asked that an appointment be scheduled with his assistant, before hanging up. The subsequent request for an appointment has not prompted a reply. 

Perry says she's worked hard to forgive the man responsible for what happened to her in 2010, and has built a life in Summerside, P.E.I. that includes a husband, two children and a successful business.

She has forgiven — but she hasn't forgotten.

Perry was finishing a bartending shift at the downtown bar Velvet Underground in January 2010. She says a small group of friends suggested they have a couple of drinks at her Brown's Court apartment after closing.