PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - A 12-year-old alleged victim of a sexual assault was found bruised and naked from the waist down after police abandoned a high-speed chase of a van registered to Stanley Tippett, a man "known to coerce young girls," court heard Wednesday.

Const. Robbie Harding, a uniformed officer with Durham Regional Police, told the court he responded to a call at a high school just east of Oshawa, Ont., on Aug. 6, 2008 after receiving reports of screams and crying in a wooded area.

He came upon a man who fled in a red van upon seeing the police cruiser, and pursued the van, which was going so fast it became airborne at one point, court heard.

Harding was eventually told to stop the chase, but not before getting the van's licence plate, he testified.

When Harding returned to the school he saw a young girl, holding onto a fence, staggering forward with her lower body exposed.

"She didn't have any shoes, any socks, any pants, any underwear," Harding told the court.

"She was wet and dirty and had scrapes on her legs," as well as bruises on her eyes and a cut on her arm. The girl was unsteady and incoherent, but was able to identify herself, he said.

By then, Harding said, he realized she was the young girl who had been reported missing in Peterborough.

"She was kind of whimpering, crying," Harding said, adding the girl, dressed only in a black hoodie and a green undershirt torn down the middle, was trying to pull her hoodie down to cover her body.

"She just said she just wanted to go home."

The van's licence plate was traced back to Tippett, a man "known to coerce young girls," Harding told the court.

Tippett, a married father of five, was arrested later that day. The 33-year-old has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including sexual assault and kidnapping.

Harding later identified Tippett from a photo lineup.

Tippett's lawyer challenged that evidence Wednesday, saying his client's facial deformities, caused by a rare genetic disease, wouldn't have created a fair lineup.

The alleged victim's friends have testified she was drunk that night, but the girl denied that claim when she took the stand Tuesday. She testified she doesn't remember drinking and can't recall anything about the alleged assault.

Earlier Wednesday, Tippett's ex-mistress Felicia Neals, 30, told the court police had warned her about him before the alleged attack.

"They told me I should rethink my relationship because all he did was lie to me," said Neals, who dated Tippett for about six months and testified she only continued the relationship after he insisted he was separated from his wife.

One officer "told me to be careful because he was dangerous."

Neals also admitted she lied about having a child with him, pretending her toddler daughter, who turns two in November, was his because Tippett wanted it that way.

"He was acting like she was his," Neals said, who has an 11-year-old as well.

Neals showed up at a bail hearing for Tippett last August, sitting in the front row of the courtroom with his wife Natalie Tippett and mother Susan Anderson. She was described at the time as his pregnant fiancee, with whom he'd been living a double life.

No mention has been made since about Neals having a third child.

Neals has testified that Tippett told her he had been carjacked and his van was stolen following the alleged attack, adding he was worried about being arrested.

Harding will resume his testimony when the trial continues Thursday.