The jury in the BC Supreme Court trial of a Prince George man deliberated for less than a day and found him guilty as charged Wednesday, July 23 of sexual assault and touching a person under 16 for a sexual purpose.
Joseph Alexander Child, 46, pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial on July 9. He did not testify in his defence.
Child will undergo a sentencing hearing on Dec. 16 and 17.
After receiving instructions from Justice Michael Stephens on Tuesday, July 22, the jury began deliberations at 3:15 p.m. until retiring for the day around 10 p.m. Jurors resumed at 10 a.m. but returned to deliver the guilty verdict at 12:15 p.m.
The incident took place during a sleepover at Child’s basement suite near Spruceland Mall on Aug. 11, 2020.
The victim testified that Child forced her to touch his genitals, massaged her genitals with his hand and they had sexual intercourse in his bedroom.
The identities of the victim and witnesses are protected by a publication ban.
During closing arguments, Crown prosecutor Rodney Withall said the jury needed to find at least one of the offences happened beyond reasonable doubt in order to convict Child on both counts.
Withall emphasized the girl was only 14 at the time, “and incapable, at law, of consenting to any sexual activity with a 42-year-old man.”
Pivotal to the case was DNA evidence that matched Child’s in a 2021-tested vaginal swab.
By its guilty ruling, the jury did not buy defence lawyer James Macdonnell’s theory that the girl made sexual advances to Child and the DNA came from Child’s skin cells applied by her finger.
