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Image Credit: Cliff MacArthur/provincialcourt.bc.ca

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A BC man was found guilty this week of breaking into a home and raping a woman he didn't know more than 20 years ago.

Christopher Sharafi was charged with sexual assault and breaking and entering in 2020, with the case finally coming to a conclusion on Oct. 23 with a BC Supreme Court decision.

In 2015, police were able to match his DNA to a sample from the 2001 rape in which a stranger broke into a woman's home in Metro Vancouver. It's not clear why, but it was another five years before he was charged, according to the decision.

The woman, whose name is protected under a publication ban, was in bed on the December 2001 night when she awoke to see a man standing next to her bed. She didn't recognize him, but he laid next to her before punching her and pulling her to the floor, according to the decision.

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The rape lasted just a few minutes, and when it was over, her assailant laid his head on her stomach.

"(He) made a comment that she must think he was a stupid 'East Indian,'" the court decision reads. "He then picked her up and put her back in bed. After laying on the bed beside her briefly, he left the room."

When the house went quiet, she waited a few minutes and ran to a nearby convenience store to call police. An officer took her to a hospital for treatment, where a rape kit was also completed.

At her home, police found her assailant likely got in through a laundry room window, which was pried open, but they couldn't find any useable fingerprints.

Sharafi, who has a history of property-related crimes, wasn't connected to the investigation until he was ordered to give a DNA sample in 2015 while in prison for property crimes. 

"The evidence that she was attacked and sexually assaulted by an intruder is not disputed, nor is the fact that Mr. Sharafi’s DNA was recovered from the vaginal swab... after the assault," Justice Nitya Iyer's decision reads.

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Sharafi pleaded his innocence, claiming he and the victim met at a bar that night and had sex in his van, while it was someone else who assaulted her. His account included several specific details about that 2001 night.

Iyer didn't believe his testimony.

She said his years around the time of the assault and those that followed included frequent job changes, raising two kids, gambling problems and property offences. He was also using different aliases and spent some time in jail.

"In short, he had a lot on his plate," Iyer said. "In light of this, one would expect Mr. Sharafi’s recollection of that night to be very poor. Instead, his recollection of certain details was strikingly clear. This undermines his credibility."

She said he had "fundamental flaws" in his testimony and lacked credibility, finding him guilty of both charges.

Sharafi hasn't yet been sentenced.

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