diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriter.java
index eb9e97131d5..87d3a8ab635 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriter.java
@@ -104,11 +104,6 @@ protected Throwable doAbort(Throwable accumulate)
     }
 
     // TODO: we should specify as a parameter if we permit an existing file or not
-    private static FileChannel openChannel(File file)
-    {
-        return openChannel(file, true);
-    }
-
     private static FileChannel openChannel(File file, boolean readable)
     {
         try
@@ -171,7 +166,7 @@ public SequentialWriter(File file, SequentialWriterOption option)
      */
     public SequentialWriter(File file, SequentialWriterOption option, boolean strictFlushing)
     {
-        this(file, true, option, strictFlushing);
+        this(file, false, option, strictFlushing);
     }
 
     public SequentialWriter(File file, boolean readable, SequentialWriterOption option, boolean strictFlushing)
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriterReadableTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriterReadableTest.java
index cb903abb680..f73542e59ce 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriterReadableTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/util/SequentialWriterReadableTest.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
-import org.apache.cassandra.io.compress.BufferType;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
@@ -261,4 +260,4 @@ public void testExistingFileWithReadableFalse() throws IOException
             tempFile.tryDelete();
         }
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}