IN THE PENALTY BOX - KEITH CHASE
KEITH CHASE - SEXUAL ASSUALT
Former Vernon hockey coach found guilty of sexual assault
InfoNews.ca by Ben Bulmer March 12, 2022 - 7:00 AM | Original Article = HERE
A former Vernon hockey coach has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a female player almost 20 years ago.
Well-known hockey coach and Vernon businessman Keith Gordon Grant Chase shook his head when Justice Gary Weatherill read out his guilty verdict Friday, March 11, at the Vernon courthouse.
Chase was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 16-year-old hockey player when she slept over at his home before a playoff game sometime in the early 2000s.
Justice Weatherill said the player had been the daughter of close family friends.
Chase didn't deny that the sexual encounter took place, but argued it was consensual.
The victim was 16 years old at the time and Chase was married and in his mid-30s.
The complainant's name is covered under a publication ban and some of the details in this story have been kept purposely vague to protect her identity.
The court heard how, while the teen was sleeping over at his family home before a playoff game, he'd gone into the kitchen and started kissing her.
She then went upstairs to the bedroom and got into bed. He followed and sat on her bed. He then put his hands under her clothes and sexually assaulted her.
"As he did so (she had) a feeling of embarrassment she recalls feeling sick and wondering when it would be over," the Justice told the court. "She did not move or say anything."
The victim said she knew at the time what Chase was doing was wrong but her 16-year-old brain was unable to process it.
Chase had then told her not to tell anyone.
Chase had a different version of events and says the teen asked him for a back rub while they were both downstairs.
He said she came onto him and it was consensual.
The hockey coach also says there was a second incident of consensual sexual activity during a party later that year.
"He admits to engaging in sexual activity and says she is mistaken about the sequence of the events and the nature of the events as they were," Justice Weatherill said. "While he admits the encounters between them were morally wrong because of his position as (her) coach and ... the age difference, he says she not only consented but initiated (the sexual activity)... and she was a willing participant."
However, the justice found holes in Chase's testimony.
"I found his evidence had some serious shortcomings," the Justice said. "Some of his testimony was implausible and lacked the type of precision that would be expected if he was explaining actual events," he said. "He tried to minimize his role in (the) sexual encounters by suggesting (the teen) was the instigator and a willing participant."
The Justice said Chase had made up the second sexual encounter that was supposed to have happened at a party later in the year.
Chase, who owns Chasers Bottle Depot, has been coaching hockey for 30 years and was awarded the SportBC Community Sport Hero Award in 2015 for his service to the game.
The Justice found that while some of the victim's evidence didn't match that of an earlier statement given to the police she was a credible witness.
The court heard that after the sexual assault the teen had become less focused on hockey and started drinking excessively. She graduated high school but later dropped out of university.
She gave up on her dream of playing hockey for Team Canada.
She later returned to university and has since married and had children and has a successful career.
Several years after the sexual assault she told her parents who confronted Chase.
Wanting to put closure on the assault, she confronted Chase again in 2020. She then went to the police and he was charged.
Justice Weatherill said the case came down to the credibility of both parties and whether the victim provided consent.
"I was impressed by the authenticity of (the victim's) testimony," the Justice said, adding her decision to keep it secret struck him as authentic.
"I conclude that the accused conduct as described by (the teen) was intentional and carried out for a sexual purpose, I also conclude that (the teen) did not consent to the (sexual) encounter with the accused," the Justice said.
"The accused sexually assaulted (the teen) to the extent that he may have thought (she) was consenting but either as a result of his... intoxication, reckless or willful blindness, and or his failure to take reasonable steps to ascertain her consent," he said. "The accused has a ... duty to take reasonable steps to ensure she was consenting to the sexual acts... instead of ensuring that consent, I conclude that the accused acted with willful blindness, callous indifference and recklessness as to whether (the victim) was actually consenting to sexual activities.
"Silence is not consent."
Chase will be sentenced at a later date.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor.
Nearly 2 years jail for former Vernon hockey coach who sexually assaulted teen Former hockey coach Keith Chase committed the assault almost 20 years ago
Vernon Morning Star BRENDAN SHYKORA Oct. 28, 2022, 11:10 a.m | Original Article = HERE
A Vernon businessman and former hockey coach will serve almost two years in jail for sexually assaulting a teen girl nearly 20 years ago.
Keith Chase, owner of Chasers Bottle Depot, was sentenced by Justice Gary Weatherill to 23 months jail in BC Supreme Court at the Vernon courthouse Friday, Oct. 28.
In March, Chase was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who was playing for a hockey team he coached. The teen was sleeping over at his house prior to a game between January and March 2004. Chase, now 55, was in his 30s at the time and drinking heavily, according to his lawyer.
At a sentencing hearing in September, Crown counsel Miho Ogi-Harris called for a sentence of two to four years. Defence lawyer Nicholas Jacob asked for two years of house arrest, or failing that, nine months jail followed by probation.
At the September hearing, Jacob read out a series of letters by members of the community who knew Chase. The letters described him as a “family man,” a role model for the hockey players on the many teams he coached, and someone with good character.
Ogi-Harris said the fact that Chase was a family man is what allowed him access to the victim.
“The good character … didn’t prevent this offence from happening,” Ogi-Harris said.
In addition to the jail time, Chase will be put on the sex offender registry for 20 years, is subject to a 10-year firearm ban, must provide a DNA sample and have no contact with the complainant.
CHASE APPEALS CONVICTION
Castanet.net Darren Handschuh - Nov 2, 2022, 4:05 pm | Story: 394146 - Original Article = HERE
A Vernon businessman and longtime former hockey coach is appealing his sexual assault conviction.
On Friday, Oct. 28, Keith Chase was sentenced in Vernon court to 23 months in jail for a sexual assault that happened almost 20 years ago.
Chase filed an appeal the same day he was sentenced and was released on bail Monday, pending the outcome of the appeal, which could take several months.
Chase, born in 1967, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in an incident that happened in 2004, when he was in his mid-30s.
He was found guilty in March of sexually assaulting the teen hockey player when she slept over at his home before a game.
Appeal date set for Vernon businessman in wake of sexual assault conviction
Castanet.net Darren Handschuh - July 13, 2023, 12:06 pm | Story: 394146 - Original Article = HERE
A date has been set for a Vernon businessman's appeal of a sexual assault conviction.
Keith Chase, a local business owner and former hockey coach, was found guilty in March 2022 of one count of sexual assault involving a 16-year-old girl.
The alleged offence took place in March 2004 in Chase's home the night before a game.
Chase was a friend of the family and the girl's hockey coach.
He was sentenced to 23 months in prison in October 2022.
A notice of appeal was issued soon after.
The B.C. Prosecution Service confirms the appeal will be heard by the BC Court of Appeal on Oct. 20.
Chase is also seeking a new trial.
CONVICTION APPEAL BEGINS
Darren Handschuh - Oct 20, 2023, 12:20 pm | Story: 453007 - Original Article = HERE
A Vernon businessman is having the appeal of his sexual conviction heard by the BC Court of Appeal today.
Former hockey coach Keith Chase, 56, was convicted in March 2022 for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
On Oct. 28, 2022, Chase was sentenced to 23 months for the 2004 alleged incident.
He was a friend of the family and the teen's minor hockey coach at the time.
Other than the sexual assault, Chase has no criminal record and is known in the community for his charitable work through his business, Chasers Bottle Depot.
Chase is appealing to have a new trial, saying the trial judge erred by failing to consider inconsistencies between the complainant's police statement and her trial testimony.
Vernon businessman's sexual assault conviction overturned, new trial ordered
The BC Court of Appeal has set aside the 2022 conviction
Brendan Shykora Brendan Shykora Nov 18, 2023 4:00 PM - Original Article Original Article = HERE
A North Okanagan businessman found guilty of sexual assault last year has had the conviction overturned and will get a new trial.
The accused, whose name is protected by a publiction ban, successfully appealed his 2022 BC Supreme Court conviction involving a woman who was 16 years old at the time of the alleged sexual assault, which took place in 2004 when he was 36.
The accused was the girl's hockey coach and family friend at the time, and the assault was alleged to have taken place in the accused's home the night before a game.
The accused was sentenced to 23 months jail on Oct. 28, 2022, but served no time as he immediately filed an appeal of the sentence.
The accused raised two grounds of his appeal. First, he argued the trial judge erred by admitting content of the complainant's prior consistent statement to her parents in which she disclosed the alleged assault, and by relying on that statement for the truth of its contents.
The accused also claimed the judge erred by misapplying the legal principles applicable to the assessment of adult witnesses testifying to events that occurred in childhood, in discounting the inconsistencies arising from the complainant's evidence.
According to the BC Court of Appeal's Nov. 16 ruling, "the judge relied on the content of the complainant's prior consistent statement to her parents in finding the complainant's evidence to be credible and reliable. The content of the statement should not have been admitted, and the judge made a clear error of law in relying on it to corroborate the complainant's testimony."
The appeal court ruling continued, "the error is not so harmless or minor that it could not have had any impact on the verdict, since the credibility of the complainant and appellant were central to resolving the key element of consent, and the judge relied on the statement in finding the complainant credible. Further, the evidence against the appellant was not so overwhelming that any other verdict would have been impossible to obtain. As the first error has been established and is dispositive, the second alleged error is not addressed."
Based on this reasoning, Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon set aside the conviction and ordered a new trial.
The Morning Star has reached out to the BC Prosecution Service for word on when a date for a new trial will be set.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to adhere to a publication ban.
Accused Vernon hockey coach no-shows at court hearing
His non-appearance was noted, and the matter was adjourned to the following week, Monday, June 17.
Bowen Assman Update: Tuesday, June 18:
A Vernon sexual assault retrial has hit another delay.
After counsel for former Vernon hockey coach Keith Chase failed to appear in Kamloops court on June 10, the parties reconvened a week later on Monday, June 17. At that hearing, Chase's lawyer requested a further week adjournment to June 24 at the Kamloops Law Courts. The court granted the request, according to BC Prosecution Service communications counsel Damienne Darby.
The recent court dates are for the purpose of setting a date for the continuation of the retrial, and Darby said it is expected the June 24 hearing will accomplish that.
Original:
Former Vernon hockey coach Keith Chase, who is in the midst of a sexual assault retrial, did not appear at a fix-a-date court hearing on Monday, June 10.
Chase was charged in 2020, found guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to two years in jail in 2023. However, he was successful in appealing the conviction and a retrial is currently underway.
The court hearing, in Kamloops B.C. Supreme Court, was for the purposes of fixing a date for the continuation of the trial.
According to the BC Prosecution Service, Chase's non-appearance was noted, and the matter was adjourned to Monday, June 17.
Neither Chase, nor members of his counsel, appeared June 10.
The case will now continue on Monday, June 17