NANAIMO — A former local junior hockey player has been acquitted on a sexual assault charge following a trial.
Justice Douglas Thompson announced the verdict in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Thursday, June 20, almost two months since the trial began against Kenneth Leslie Boychuk, 20, of Edmonton, Alberta.
The judge concluded the complainant made several inaccurate and embellished statements during the police investigation and at the trial linked to an alleged violent sexual attack against a then 17-year-old girl at her Nanaimo home on Jan 31, 2023.
Boychuk was 18 at the time.
“I want to it clearly understood that I do not make a positive finding that the alleged sexual assault did not happen. The evidence leads me to significant uncertainty about which parts of the complainants can be counted upon as reliable.”
Boychuk pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault in relation to an alleged attack on a 17-year-old girl in a Nanaimo home on Jan. 31, 2023.
He was playing for the Nanaimo Buccaneers of the VIJHL at the time.
During the opening day of the trial, court heard a video-recorded interview between the complainant, an unnamed woman, and a local RCMP officer which detailed the alleged attack.
Court heard Boychuk showed up at the complainant’s address uninvited, with her saying she believed Boychuk at one point said “You know why I’m here.”
The complainant believes Boychuk found her house by referencing a location-finding feature on a social media app.
She said he grabbed her arm and led her to her downstairs bedroom where the alleged assault took place, which was said to include Boychuk hitting her until she reported seeing “black and stars.”
She told RCMP she woke up naked with Boychuk on top of her penetrating her vaginally and was struck several times.
She said the incident lasted between 30 and 60 minutes, but wasn’t sure.
The two hadn’t met prior to the alleged assault which occurred when the complainant was supposed to be at school.
The complainant’s credibility was questioned a few weeks into the trial as she was cross-examined by defence attorney Rory Ziv.
Ziv questioned her timeline of the events, including when the incident was reported to police, after she was said to confront the Buccaneers coach at a game on Feb. 2.
She said seeing Boychuk at the arena triggered her, and spoke to the Nanaimo RCMP the following day and filed a formal complaint, resulting in Boychuk’s arrest.
– More to come
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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @reporterholmes
