One night, multiple stories; conflicting testimonies in sexual assault trial | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Kamloops News

One night, multiple stories; conflicting testimonies in sexual assault trial

KAMLOOPS - A B.C. Supreme Court judge will have to weigh several different stories after more testimony today in a sexual assault trial.

A 63-year-old Kamloops man told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker  today that he never sexually abused his foster child nor her friend. She lived with him from ages four to 18 until her friend accused him of sexually assaulting her at a sleepover in 2011. He faces multiple charges against his foster child and her friend from the sleepover. All of their identities are protected by court order.

The case involves little, if any, physical evidence, which is more the nature of sexual allegations. It's almost entirely based on credibility of differing stories. The accused also denied offering them alcohol.

"I don't drink," he said, adding he didn't know they were drinking the night of the sleepover.

He also told the court he has sexual dysfunction issues and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His wife, the one who was contractually in charge of the foster girl and her twin brother, was away on a trip with relatives the night of the alleged assault against the friend on March 20, 2011.

The man told the court he didn't let the foster girl go out that night, worried she would break curfew while his spouse was away. He said he allowed her to have a friend over to watch movies and hang out at the house, as they had before. The girls wanted to smoke, so he said he allowed them to go to a nearby park.

He said he played guitar and smoked in the garage until the girls came home a few hours later, then they all played cards before they went to bed. He said he finished off the evening playing guitar into the night, heading to bed around 1:30 a.m. He got up once to check on his own daughter who came home late from work and alarmed the dogs.

The night seemed normal to him apart from what he called a 'banging' on the floor coming from a nearby room while he was playing guitar in the garage. He assumed, however, it was the foster son running around.

The man's account of that night differed greatly from testimony from the three Crown witnesses.

The foster child — now 20 years old — took the stand yesterday and told the court she was sexually abused by the accused for three to four years before he assaulted her friend the night of the alleged incident.

Her friend, also 20 years old now, corroborated some of the accusations.

The foster child's twin brother, who also lived at the home along with the accused's wife and two children, took the stand for the Crown and alleged that living in the foster home was 'pure hell' and said he wrote a 'death metal' song about killing his foster family.

Defence lawyer Rob Bruneau accused the Crown witnesses of lying throughout their testimonies.

The defence is expected to call the wife of the accused to testify in the trial next.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013
iNFOnews

  • Popular vernon News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile