UPDATE: Mar. 22, 2017 – The B.C. Court of Appeal subsequently overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.
PENTICTON – A South Okanagan man has been convicted of sex crimes involving a young boy.
The man was found guilty Friday of sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.
The incidents, often during sleepovers at the man’s residence, happened between June 2011 and August 2012 when the victim was nine and ten years old.
In his earlier testimony, the boy told the court: “He begged to kiss my chest because it apparently helped me fall asleep. He did weird things. It was discomforting and I didn’t like it. He told me not to tell anyone or else there’d be consequences, like taking away my i-pod.”
The judge says the man displayed predatory behaviour meant to groom the child and also gave his victim expensive gifts the boy’s family couldn’t afford.
“(The man) became emotionally and physically attached to the victim,” says Madame Justice Catherine Bruce. “He had a pathological desire to be near (the boy) at all times.”
The judge also found the man’s mother was not a credible witness who gave inconsistent testimony and back-tracked on evidence that may have been harmful to her son.
The man remains free on bail pending sentencing in the new year.