A Surrey teenager who was accused of groping five girls he attended high school with has been acquitted on nine charges against him but found guilty of three that involved two of the girls.
The boy, who was under 18 at the time, was charged on a 12-count indictment with sexual assault and touching for a sexual purpose girls under age 16. In one of the two girls’ cases he was found not guilty of sexual assault but guilty of the included offence of common assault.
His identity is shielded by the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The name of the school has not been disclosed.
Judge Mark Jetté noted in his reasons for decision that the girls described the boy as being a popular student and “something of a jokester and class clown.”
Four of the complainants were in Grade 8 at the time, and the fifth had been in Grade 9.
The complaints involved unwanted grabbing or groping of their buttocks or chest, either on top or underneath clothing, and in some cases physically restrained was alleged.
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