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A former Vernon hockey coach will be tried again after he was convicted of sexual assault against his former player.

The player was 16 years old at the time and best friends with his daughter. She told the court he performed oral sex on her during a sleep over before a playoff game in Kamloops.

The alleged assault was in 2004 and it was four years later that she told her parents about it, but it wasn't until 2020 that she went to police.

Her coach, identified in a recent court decision only as "K.C.," successfully won a retrial after a hearing last month.

The BC Court of Appeal found the trial judge relied too heavily on a conversation the player had with her parents in 2008, years before the allegations were brought to court.

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The version she told her parents four years after the incident was the same as the one she told the court, referring to the night before a Kamloops playoff game.

The player, whose name is protected under a publication ban, was with the coach's daughter at a party that evening, either in January or February 2004. She was taken back to the coach's house, but her friend stayed out later. She went to the kitchen, where K.C., who was 34 years old at the time, followed her. After some small talk, he pulled her in and they kissed for a few minutes, she told the court.

She recalled being in a "state of disbelief" as she went to bed to process what happened. While she was laying in her friend's bed, he followed again, first rubbing her back then putting his hands under her shorts until one of his children began to fuss in the next room, she told the court. K.C. returned again later, this time leading her into the master bedroom, where he performed oral sex on her. It lasted anywhere from a few minutes to 20 minutes before she told him to stop, she testified.

The next day, they drove to Kamloops, where they lost the playoff game and their season was ended.

K.C. pulled her into a private dressing room, where he told her what they did was wrong and that they shouldn't tell anyone about it, she told the court.

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She later broke down in tears in front of her father. Reluctant to confess to what happened, she instead told her father it was because the season was over.

She couldn't remember exactly when the alleged assault took place, but she told the court, as she told her parents four years later, it was an evening before the Kamloops playoff game.

It was February 2020 when she finally told police about that night.

K.C. told the court anything sexual he did with her was "morally wrong," but didn't admit to oral sex nor doing anything that wasn't consensual.

He said there were two incidents, but neither of them were before a hockey game in Kamloops.

The coach said she slept over in January 2004, but his version was much different. There was no hockey game the next day and the touching was on a futon, where she removed her jeans and he rubbed her buttocks. He said he thought they were both sexually aroused, but he stopped after a few seconds, knowing it was wrong.

The second time was in August 2004 during a going-away party for his own daughter and the player's best friend. They met in the kitchen, where they kissed and he rubbed her vagina, all of which last about 15 minutes.

The Court of Appeal found the previous judge relied too heavily on the story she told her parents outside of court, especially that it hinged on a hockey game in Kamloops the next day, which was denied by K.C.

The decision added that the Crown didn't charge K.C. with sexual exploitation, which prohibits sexual touching of a youth by a person of authority. He was charged with sexual assault.

His sexual assault conviction was set aside and K.C. will be tried again at a later date.

It's not clear when the new trial will take place.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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