Former Vernon hockey coach found guilty a second time of sexual assault on teen

CONTENT ADVISORY

This article contains details about sexual assault that could be triggering for some.

A former Vernon hockey coach has again been found guilty of sexually assaulting a Grade 11 female player more than 20 years ago.

Keith Gordon Grant Chase appeared emotionless when BC Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan read out her guilty verdict at the Vernon courthouse today, Feb. 5.

Sitting at the back of the public gallery, the victim’s father patted his daughter’s leg when the verdict was read out.

This is the second time the well-known hockey coach, and owner of Chasers Bottle Depot, has been found guilty of the offence.

He was originally sentenced to 23 months jail in 2022, but avoided a jail cell and successfully appealed the conviction. A new trial began in May 2024.

In the first trial, Chase had admitted the sexual encounter took place but that it was consensual. The second time around he didn’t testify, instead requiring Crown prosecutors to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The sexual assault took place in the mid-2000s and iNFOnews.ca has purposely kept some details of the story vague to protect the victim as her name is covered under a publication ban.

The 16-year-old teen was in Grade 11 at the time and was sleeping over at Chase’s house the night before a hockey playoff game. He was in his mid-30s, married and had four children.

The teenager was good friends with Chase’s daughter and often had sleepovers at the house.

The night of the sexual assault Chase’s wife and daughter were away and Chase approached the victim in the kitchen and kissed her.

She froze and thought “what the hell,” the justice said.

The victim noted that Chase smelled of alcohol.

Later, once she had gone to bed, Chase came into the room and sat on her bed, he then put his hand inside the 16-year-old girl’s pyjama shorts and touched her genitals.

“She remained silent,” the justice said.

Later that night, the teen was in Chase’s bedroom and he told her, “you will like this.” He then put his mouth on her genitals.

She testified she felt “horrible, sad, shameful and scared.”

The next day Chase told her what happened wasn’t good, and to keep it a secret.

She didn’t want to tell anyone and wondered if it was her fault.

They drove to Kamloops the next day and lost the playoff game.

The victim had always been a very passionate hockey player and after high school went to university on a hockey scholarship.

However, she dropped out and described herself as a “mess” in the years following the sexual assault.

Four years after Chase sexually assaulted her she told her parents.

“She felt she owed her parents an explanation of why she was such a mess,” Justice Donegan said.

It was more than a decade afterwards, and now married with children and a successful career, that Chase’s name popped up in connection to her work.

She then approached Chase about the sexual assault but he remained silent.

Feeling strong enough and wanting closure, she went to the police.

During the trial, the victim, her father and an RCMP officer testified.

Justice Donegan said both the victim and her father were forthright with their evidence and she found them credible, fair and balanced.

The father testified that after his daughter had told him about the sexual assault he’d confronted Chase who downplayed the event saying “it was not as bad as she says it was.”

The father told Chase he would believe his daughter.

The defence highlighted multiple inconsistencies in the testimony from the victim and her father.

However, Justice Donegan dismissed the arguments saying the inconsistencies were minor and didn’t change the fact Chase sexually assaulted the teenager.

“Silence is not consent,” the Justice said in handing down the guilty verdict.

Chase left the courtroom with a handful of supporters and declined to comment when approached by iNFOnews.ca.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

— If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual violence, contact Archway Society for Domestic Peace at 250-542-1122, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or www.archwaysociety.ca. All programs are easily accessible, free of charge and confidential.