Warning: The following story contains graphic details of a sexual assault.
A northern B.C. man found guilty of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a house party at his home will be sentenced in May.
William Fredric Townsend was found guilty earlier this year for a July 20, 2019 sexual assault in Moberly Lake. A sentencing date has been scheduled for May 2024, the Fort St. John Law Courts confirmed Tuesday.
The incident happened at a house party at Townsend’s home, where he assaulted the woman after the two had been drinking.
The victim and Townsend knew each other as children, according to the court file, as they both resided on the Saulteau First Nation Reserve.
The file explains that the victim had went to lie down around 5:30 a.m. on the morning of the assault, after playing drinking games with Townsend and three others. She had been invited to Townsend’s residence after hanging out at the Link's Pub in Chetwynd, and they left as a group after closing time.
The victim testified that Townsend tapped her shoulder and asked if he could lay down with her, before he “began to compliment her on how pretty she was” and squeezed her breasts and put his fingers in her vagina.
The victim repeatedly asked Townsend to stop, notes the court file, but he did not. The victim further testified that Townsend pulled her leggings off and penetrated her three times with his penis.
The victim's account is also corroborated by the fact that they immediately left the scene for a rape kit, explained Justice Christopher Giaschi in the ruling, with a doctor testifying that the victim was tearful and distraught.
The doctor noted the victim did not have genital discomfort beforehand, but did after the assault, with Giaschi accepting it as evidence.
While Giaschi said the matter was not a “credibility contest” as Townsend’s account differs from the victim's, the judge said he preferred the victim’s evidence, explaining it satisfied the court’s requirements for proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused touched the victim and the touching was intentional.
“The touching was sexual in nature as it involved touching on the breasts and on the vagina and having sexual intercourse,” wrote Giaschi. “[The victim] did not consent to the touching as she repeatedly asked the accused to stop and eventually kicked or kneed him to get him to stop.”
“The accused knew [the victim] did not consent to the sexual touching,” he added.
