Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers.
A Richmond man has been convicted of sexual assault and sexual touching of his niece, who was underage at the time.
The man’s niece detailed four incidents that took place in Richmond between 2015 and 2016 when she was 12 years old.
The victim said the man touched her breast in a vehicle after returning from church, touched her vagina while they were on his bed with her sister watching videos, touched her vagina in a wave pool during a family trip to Watermania and pressed his penis against her buttocks in his bedroom.
A publication ban is in place to protect the victim's identity.
The man was seen as a “father figure” to the victim and her sister, who were raised by their grandmother, according to the Sept. 27 decision by Richmond Provincial Court judge Diana Vandor.
At the time of the incidents, the victim lived in the same home as her siblings and grandparents, as well as the man, his wife and their newborn baby.
The victim told the court she had told her grandmother about the incidents in private when she was 12 years old and was told not to tell anyone.
She ultimately decided to report the incidents to police herself a few years later.
The grandmother denied hearing about the incidents in a private setting but said she did remember the victim “spontaneously” telling her in a public place that the man had struck the victim in the groin while play-wrestling in his room.
The man denied all allegations and “gave a detailed description of his professed lack of opportunity to commit the crimes,” claiming he was never alone with the victim, said Judge Vandor.
The victim’s sister also gave evidence in support of the man, telling the court none of the incidents could have happened because she was "always together" with the victim and "did not witness them.”
Judge had ‘serious concerns’ about the man’s credibility
The man was tried between February and June this year and was found guilty last week.
Judge Vandor took note of the man’s polite and calm demeanour during the trial and his willingness to provide testimony “that could be considered contrary to his interests.”
However, she had “serious concerns” about his credibility due to the inconsistencies between his testimony and other “credible and reliable evidence.”
The man’s testimony denying his niece ever sat in the front passenger seat of his car on their trips to church contained several inconsistencies, including the lack of clarity on the number of children he had, the type of car he drove and whether his wife was always in the car with him.
He also claimed the front seat would be occupied by the baby bag at times when his wife would sit at the back with their baby.
“This is despite acknowledging that his baby was less than a year old, and at that age, babies can be messy and explosive from their mouths or bums,” said Vandor.
Vandor also did not believe the man’s testimony denying he touched the victim’s vagina in the bedroom.
The victim’s sister recalled seeing the victim play-wrestling with the man on his bed, which contradicted his evidence that the victim was never on his bed, said Vandor.
The man was also inconsistent when recalling whether the victim had ever watched shows in his bedroom, which once again contradicted the victim’s sister’s testimony. The sister told the court she watched “Clash of Clans” videos with the victim in the man’s bedroom more than once, which Vandor found to be “credible and reliable.”
Vandor further rejected the man’s claim that his nieces did not have permission to lay on his bed, as the victim’s grandmother, who set the rules for the granddaughters, said they were allowed to do so.
Finally, Vandor did not believe the man when he claimed he could not have touched the victim at Watermania because he was never alone with her in the wave pool.
“An important detail in (the man’s) evidence is that he did not know where his nieces went. However, his evidence is contradictory on this point,” said Vandor.
The man claimed he didn’t see his nieces at the swimming facility, but also told the court he saw them going into the wave pool. He also claimed he spent the afternoon with the victim’s grandparents but also told the court he spent this time with his wife and baby.
The victim’s sister told the court she didn’t see her uncle with her grandparents and he was with his wife and baby at the aquatic centre while she went to the wave pool with the victim, which Vandor found to be most credible and reliable.
Despite finding the victim’s sister a credible witness on some issues, Vandor did not believe her claim that she was always with her sister when they were 12 years old and found some of her evidence to be inconsistent and contradictory.
She also questioned the grandmother’s testimony, rejecting the grandmother’s claim that the victim didn’t tell her about the incidents and raising concerns about the grandmother’s memory.
For example, the grandmother forgot she gave police a second statement and was not able to recall the age or birthdays of some of her grandchildren even though she had a “very detailed memory of (the man’s) vehicles.”
Guilty for all four incidents
Judge Vandor ultimately decided she had “no doubt” that the acts described by the victim took place and the touching was intentional and sexual in nature, and was not convinced by the man’s lawyer’s suggestion that the victim had fabricated the allegations.
She considered the victim’s version of events to be “coherent, cohesive, believable, and internally and externally consistent on material points” overall and found her confidence in the victim’s testimony was not undermined by “imperfections” in the evidence.
Vandor ultimately found the man guilty of one count of sexual assault and one count of sexually touching a person under 16 years old.
