Jury finds Christopher Yip guilty of sexual assault
Some of his supporters were escorted from court after yelling, swearing
Christopher Yip is now legally a sex offender.
After less than 24 hours of deliberation, the eight women and three men of the jury found him guilty of sexual assault at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. The jurors also found him not guilty of “administering a stupefying drug with the intent to enable or assist himself to commit the indictable offence of sexual assault.”
That means the jury did not unanimously believe Yip spiked the beer of a McMaster University student, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, in December 2018. But it means they believe that when he had sex with her later that night, she did not have the capacity to consent.
The moment the verdict was read to the court by the jury foreperson, some members of Yip’s entourage — which included his parents and girlfriend — exploded with rage.
One female family member took her mask off and yelled: “Lies, lies.” A moment later, as the jury was excused from the courtroom, she shouted at them: “You will find out.”
She was told by court staff to be quiet. But she didn’t stop.
Turning to me, the only journalist to cover the case, she shouted: “You better watch what you’re writing. The lies. It’s disgusting.”
(She had emailed similar sentiments
a couple of times during the trial.)
At that point, she was surrounded by the extra court security officers who had been brought in for the verdict. They took her by the arms and removed her from the courtroom.
A man supporting Yip shouted “F---ing injustice” and “F--- her,” as he, too, was ushered out.
The student was not in the courtroom for the verdict, although a counsellor who supported her during her days on the witness stand was present.
Heavy security escorted jurors out of the courthouse while the Yip supporters were kept behind.
Yip remains out of custody. His sentencing hearing will be set at a later date, court heard.
The trial was told that Yip and the student had been friends for about three years before the night in question.
They met for beer and the student testified that her second pint — which Yip went to the bar to get — tasted bitter. She drank it anyway.
Later the student woke, naked, in Yip’s bed. Her evidence was that her memories of that night are “foggy.”
Forensic testing showed Yip’s semen was inside the student. It also found the drugs MDMA (also known as ecstasy or molly), its derivative MDA and methamphetamine were in her system.
The trial raised many of the complicated issues that surround sexual assault cases, particularly in the post-#MeToo era, which calls for survivors of sexual assault to be believed.
This trial raised questions around impairment, ability to consent, credibility and memory.
For assistant Crown attorney Gordon Akilie, the case turned on the issue of capacity to consent.
Defence lawyer Lauren Wilhelm focused largely on the credibility of the student.
Yip did not take the witness stand during the trial and Wilhelm called no defence witnesses.
The student is now 26, married and a graduate student at McMaster University.
The jury began its deliberations at about 4:30 p.m. Monday and spent that night in a hotel. They had one question for the judge Tuesday morning — they wanted Justice Kim Carpenter-Gunn to repeat her instructions on how to evaluate evidence — before rendering their verdict.
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You better watch what you’re writing. The lies. It’s disgusting. CHRISTOPHER YIP FAMILY MEMBER TO JOURNALIST