Accused to decide if he’ll testify

Sex assault trial may resume today

A35-year-old man on trial in Lethbridge for sexual assault and child luring is expected to announce today whether he’ll testify in his own defence.

Trevor Phillip Pritchard was expected to testify Thursday in Court of Queen’s Bench, but the trial was adjourned late in the day for the accused and his lawyer to discuss their options before making a decision. If he decides to testify, he likely won’t take the stand until Tuesday so his testimony is not split by the weekend. If he doesn’t testify, defence and the Crown could present their closing arguments today, although they may opt to wait until next week. The trial is not sitting Monday. Pritchard is charged with luring and sexual assault in relation to one girl and luring against a second underage girl. Court has heard during the trial the two girls exchanged messages and photos on Facebook with a Facebook user called Trevor Pritchard and Phillip Fieldcamper, who the Crown alleges are the same person. One of the girls never actually met the man with whom she exchanged messages, while the other girl testified she had numerous sexual liaisons with Pritchard in late 2016 before she finally reported him.

Both girls were identified while police were investigating Pritchard for another sexual assault against a young girl, for which he pleaded guilty in April. Pritchard admitted he took the girl to his home and forced her to participate in various sexual acts before he drove her to her home afterward and threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

Although Pritchard pleaded guilty to sexual assault and child luring, he is expected to apply in February to have his guilty pleas struck.

During Thursday’s hearing defence called a witness to provide opinion evidence to the vulnerability, security and accuracy of digital devices that interface with Facebook. Facebook records were examined as part of the Crown’s case against Pritchard.

The witness, Chris Nowell, said Facebook is vulnerable to hacking, and even publishes on its own website a list of its vulnerabilities. However, he testified during crossexamination by Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner, that he has no direct knowledge of any vulnerabilities of Facebook associated with Pritchard’s case.