FILE PHOTO

(ASHLEY LEGASSIC - REPORTER / iNFOnews.ca)

When it came right down to it, the judge had one question to answer.

“Did Mr. Cooper’s genitals accidentally fall out of his shorts while he was in the mall?”

B.C. Provincial Court judge Jennifer Lopes heard the trial of Thomas Charles Cooper, 53, who was accused of indecent exposure at a Surrey mall July 4, 2022.

Two witnesses complained to security after the first one noticed Cooper sitting on a bench, his penis exposed, looking at her. She called over a friend, but he left only to return a short time later. He sat down again with his junk on display.

Security footage showed Cooper walking into the mall, adjusting his shorts several times and looking down at his crotch.

He tried to tell Lopes that if his penis was exposed, it was just an accident.

She wasn’t buying what he was selling.

"I do not believe Mr. Cooper and his evidence does not raise a reasonable doubt. Mr. Cooper’s evidence appeared to be rehearsed in that he was confident and clear in chief, but under cross-examination, his demeanour changed,” she wrote. "He became unclear, came up with new details, and mumbled uncertain answers.”

She doubted his excuse that he went to the mall to exercise. He had testified he stripped out of another pair of shorts and his underwear in the parking lot into his exercise shorts “as there was no one around.” He said he wore a mask because he was concerned about COVID. He refused to acknowledge that the video showed him adjusting his shorts and looking at his crotch.

She said it didn’t make sense to enter a busy mall for exercise if he’s concerned about communicable diseases, then “made up what he thought he was doing” when confronted with the video.

“I find that Mr. Cooper changed shorts in the Mall parking lot to facilitate the indecent exposure. There is no other reasonable inference in light of the totality of the evidence.”

She found Cooper, who owns a bowling alley, guilty. He will be sentenced at another date.

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