Warning: This story contains content triggering to some readers
Hayden Chokrev-Evans, a Royal Canadian Navy marine technician, has been sentenced to three years and eight months for a violent sexual assault in a Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt dorm room on Oct. 15, 2022.
“Mr. Chokrev-Evans’ acts were vile, violent, degrading, and harmful to the victim,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carla Forth wrote in her reasons for the sentence, released on Wednesday, May 29.
Chokrev-Evans, 23, was found guilty on Feb. 9, 2024 following a five-day jury trial, and was sentenced on May 21. Defence counsel had sought just under two years, while Crown counsel argued for three-to-four years.
In her reasons for the sentence, Forth details how Chokrev-Evans manipulated the victim into coming to his dorm room after the two met on the Tinder dating app, then “forced oral and penetrative sex with her using violent means.” This included hitting and strangling her.
The woman’s name is protected under a publication ban.
The first date between Chokrev-Evans and the woman included a trip to a mall and a park. They then set up another meeting for the following weekend.
The woman wanted a long-term relationship, but Chokrev-Evans misled her into thinking this was what he was interested in, when in actuality he was just after “quick sex.”
On the second date they watched a Netflix show about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer together at Chokrev-Evans’ dorm, then he went to the gym.
When he returned, the woman asked him how the gym was, but he did not respond. Instead, he began assaulting her sexually and physically, hitting her on her head and ears. Her vision went “black and blurry.”
He threw her down on the bed, forcibly having intercourse with her, while grabbing her throat with both hands then placing a pillow over her face and pushing down on it. He then picked her up by her hair and bashed her head into a wall.
She told the court at one point she could not feel or hear anything and felt she was losing consciousness. Chokrev-Evans did not use a condom.
At some point after the assault, Chokrev-Evans texted her saying “It sucks u left, my buddy wanted to hit it” and sent her an article that referenced a woman who stabbed and strangled her Tinder date. This was interpreted as a threat.
The woman had marks on her neck and arm as well as a lump on her head after the assault. For about a week afterward she said it was difficult to speak and to swallow.
After going to the hospital two days afterward, a rape kit was performed and the incident was reported to police.
“It was my perception that Mr. Chokrev-Evans exhibited no restraint in the pursuit of his own sexual gratification,” Forth wrote.
Chokrev-Evans also expressed little remorse or understanding of the seriousness of the offense, going so far, according to Forth, of saying this type of offense would not happen again in the future because he said “he will stop having sexual interactions with people that he is not attracted to.”
“I am concerned that with his lack of remorse and insight, his prospects for rehabilitation in the future are very low,” the justice wrote.
According to the pre-sentence report, Chokrev-Evans was still employed by the Navy after being remanded into custody on Feb. 21, but was not being paid.
A spokesperson for the Department of National Defense said in an email message that Chokrev-Evans was no longer a member of the Canadian Armed Forces as of May 15.
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