Kenneth Leslie Boychuk was found not guilty of sexual assault related to an incident involving a then 17-year-old girl on Jan 31, 2023. He and his family declined comment after leaving court on Wednesday, June 20. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

not guilty

Former Nanaimo junior hockey player found not guilty of sexual assault

Jun 20, 2024 | 10:20 AM

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, following a recent trial 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 it to be 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 complainant’s evidence can be counted upon as reliable.”

The judge said conflicting statements of how some of her bruises formed, claims which she recounted about losing consciousness several times during the incident, along with false claims to police that the Buccaneers organization had been made aware and vice versa.

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“I conclude that the complainant statement to police that the accused forced her medication down her throat and made her drink water are exaggerated and false narrative details created by the complainant,” justice Thompson said.

The judge also referenced retracted statements by the complainant to her sister the encounter with Boychuk was consensual and to her father and friends her bruises were the result of running into a door frame and being head-butted by her dog.

“…the physical evidence does not match up with the complainant’s evidence about the degree and type of force applied,” justice Thompson said while reading aloud a 25-minute long verdict.

Despite various inconsistencies, the judge determined the complainant to be a composed, patient and a forthcoming witness at trial.

Boychuk pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault in relation to the alleged attack, originally opting to be tried by a jury, then re-electing for the case to be heard by judge alone.

The Crown called five witnesses at trial, while the defence didn’t produce any evidence.

Boychuk was playing for the Nanaimo Buccaneers of the VIJHL at the time, finished the season following a brief absence and played part of the following season with the Bucs before being traded to the Kerry Park Islanders.

During the opening day of the trial, court heard a video-recorded interview between the unnamed woman and a local RCMP officer outlining what she described as a vicious, non-consensual sexual encounter in which she was assaulted vaginally, orally and anally.

She made several claims regarding the nature and length of the alleged incident, but was unsure on some details.

Court heard 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 rigorously questioned when 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.

The complainant’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

– with files from Jordan Davidson

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes