Warning: This article contains details related to sexual interference.
A Nanaimo man has been acquitted of charges relating to sexually interfering with a minor, but was found guilty of attempted luring.
Craig Allen Sims was charged of single counts of sexual interference of a person under 14, sexual interference of a person under 16, sexual assault, and communicating via computer to lure a child under 18 for incidents between 2007 and 2009.
The victim is 28, but her identity is protected, as she was a minor at the time of the alleged offences.
In B.C. provincial court in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Jan. 31, justice Catherine Wedge found that the accused had been trying to pursue a relationship with the victim via text messages, but the judge had doubts about the sexual interference evidence. The victim reported the incidents in May 2020, after she reflected on the events during the COVID-19 pandemic; a trial took place in November.
The victim testified that Sims had touched her breast while she was sitting on his lap while he was playing a World of Warcraft video game. The judge said the victim felt confused and flustered.
Another incident, which the judge said formed the basis of the the first three counts, took place while the two were with others en route to a camping trip in 2008. At an overnight stay at a house, Sims was alleged to have touched the victim beneath the waistband of her pyjamas, but she rolled over on her side to avoid being touched and went back to sleep. This happened a few more times, the judge said, and each time, the victim shifted and went back to sleep.
Other evidence included messages between the accused and the victim, which he admitted to sending, and clearly established his liability for luring, according to the judge.
Sims had appeared at the door of a bedroom where the victim was changing, and in a later text message, he asked her why she kicked him out. The judge said in these instances, the victim would respond negatively or not at all.
When confronted with the messages by police, the judge said Sims was taken aback, and denied consciously trying to pursue a sexual relationship with the victim, but also acknowledged he was likely attracted and pursuing a relationship that would not take place till she was older.
The judge said the messages demonstrated an infatuation, but witness testimony did not clearly show touching took place. Some of the touching was described as slight, and witnesses did not remember an overnight stay at a house during the camping trip.
The judge said it wasn’t witness credibility that was at issue, but reliability. Testimony came from events that happened years ago, she said.
Mental assessment and pre-sentence reports were ordered and a date for sentencing is scheduled to be established on March 25.
Nick Acker appeared as defence counsel and Neal Bennet was Crown counsel. Bennet appeared on behalf of Sabrina Avery, co-Crown counsel in the trial of Paris Laroche in Vancouver, who is accused of first-degree murder and interfering with a dead body. Acker was appearing on behalf of Cheyne Hodson’s office.
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