Not guilty in sex assault

Photo: Castanet Staff

UPDATE NOV. 25 

A local 54-year-old man was found not guilty in B.C. Supreme Court today on two charges related to the alleged sexual assault and interference of nine-year-old girl, more than 11 years ago.

While he was found not guilty in this case, the man will be back in court to face four more charges involving the sexual assault of two minors in West Kelowna during the last decade. 

The four remaining charges have been split into two trials, one for each alleged victim and incident.

The man cannot be named under a publication ban due to his relationship to the alleged victims.  

ORIGINAL NOV. 24

The crime allegedly occurred more than 11 years ago, but the pain is still fresh for a victim who took the stand in Kelowna, Tuesday.

The 21-year-old woman, who cannot be named, is one of three alleged victims in the attacks on underage girls.

The man on trial, a 54-year-old, is accused of the sexual assault and interference of the three, in three different incidents in West Kelowna during the past 13 years.

The accused has been charged with six counts, two for each victim, including three counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference with a person under 16 and one count of sexual interference with a person under 14.

The man was supposed be on trial this week for all six counts, but, at the request of defence counsel, the case has been broken into three separate trials.

The first takes place this week in Kelowna Supreme Court, involving an incident from the early 2000s, when the alleged victim was nine years old.

The now 21-year-old woman took the stand as the first Crown witness. She identified the accused as the man who allegedly assaulted her and immediately broke down in tears when Crown asked her to explain what happened.

The woman remembered a happy day in the summer. She was out swimming with friends and had returned home when she sat on the couch to dry off. She wore a wet bathing suit and was wrapped in a white towel.

She said the accused joined her on the couch and put his arm around her.

“I felt his arm go down the right side of my body and his hand reached under my towel and then I felt his hand go under my bathing suit, and I felt his fingers start rubbing my vagina, a couple times for a couple of minutes,” said the woman. “I felt scared and I started to feel numb, like I didn’t have any feeling at all.”

She testified she asked him to stop, and he looked at her with a smirk.

“He had a sick smile like he was allowed to do it and it was OK for him to do it,” said the woman. 

The woman said he stopped when she left the room.

The woman did not come forward with the information until a family member told her about another incident involving a different girl and she felt safe to come forward with her own story.

The alleged incident is the first of three between 2002 and 2012 the accused is on trial for.

The first trial is expected to wrap up this week; the following two trial dates still need to be set.

The accused is currently not in custody.