Man who fabricated alibi found guilty of sexual assault

A 20-year-old Labrador man who tried to fabricate an alibi was recently convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman in 2018.

The young woman, who was 14 at the time of the incident, had been chatting on Snapchat and texting with the accused for three to four weeks leading up to the assault on March 24.

She told the court they had been flirting for a while before the incident, in which he offered to give her a ride to a friend’s house, but then drove out of town to a secluded area. She told him she didn’t want to do more than kiss, but he took off her clothes and they had intercourse, with her telling him more than once they should stop.

She went to the police a few days later, and told the court she didn’t know how to talk to her parents or friends about it initially.

The young man was picked up by the police that same day, and told them he hadn’t seen the young woman on March 24 and had been on a snowmobile trip and “cook up” with some friends.

The friends did not corroborate the story with police, and when he was confronted during a second police interview with security footage showing his vehicle had been in the area the victim had described, he told police he had his days mixed up and didn’t want to talk further.

He also denied he had any sexual contact with the young woman, which was proven false by his DNA that was found on her body and clothes.

In the second interview he told police he had been home at the time of the sexual assault and that his parents would vouch for him.

When he was called to testify, however, he gave a different version of events, saying the young woman had contacted him to hang out. He said he had picked her up, they had driven to the location she described and had consensual sex.

“When asked why he denied having the complainant in his vehicle, he testified that he was scared, shocked and did not think the police would believe him,” the written judgment from Frances Knickle read. “He stated he would not do it again.”

Knickle said she found the victim to be generally credible, and inconsistences in her testimony were on minor details and could be attributed to, among other things, the age of the young woman when the assault happened.

The young man, on the other hand, she did not find to be credible. He had lied to the police about his whereabouts and about having intercourse with the young woman, which he admitted on the stand.

Knickle said she accepted his reasons that he was scared and nervous, but the evidence of the fabricated alibi is inconsistent with his testimony that he was with the victim and the intercourse was consensual.

“The stark contrast in these statements is a major inconsistency,” Knickle wrote. “In my view, this weighs heavily against his credibility. I cannot ignore that the fabricated alibi, while not ‘positively incriminating’ as evidence of consciousness of guilt, is evidence of intentional and extensive dishonesty. Further, not only did the accused intentionally lie, he asked others to lie for him.”

She said the young man knew the sexual intercourse wasn’t consensual and had continued despite explicit objections from the young woman.

The man will be sentenced at a later date.