Warning: This story discusses sexual violence that may be triggering for some readers.
Former Chief Ervin Charleyboy was back in B.C. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 to face charges of indecent assault and gross indecency. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Charleyboy removed his trademark black cowboy hat to enter court, revealing his short-cropped grey hair. The accused sat in the prisoner’s dock dressed in Wrangler blue jeans, cowboy boots and a black coat, wearing headphones to help him hear the court proceedings.
It was the second day of Charleyboy’s trial, being overseen by Madame Justice Marguerite Church.
The witness in the case, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, alleges Charleyboy sexually abused her as a minor over a period of more than three years, from 1974 to 1980.
Her testimony and statements to police allege years of childhood abuse, which included touching her genitals and breasts.
The case for the Crown is being presented by B.C. Prosecution Service’s P. Konge, who has called one witness for the prosecution.
Charleyboy’s defence lawyer, A. Zipp, spent the morning of Nov. 4 questioning the witness in order to push back on her assertions that Charleyboy abused her for years.
Zipp suggested it was impossible for the abuse to have taken place without anyone else knowing and wondered at the witness’s inability to specify which season it was when incidents of abuse took place, though the abuse is said to have taken place over multiple years and nearly 50 years ago.
He then questioned the woman’s recollections from her childhood and suggested it was impossible for their heights to line up in order for him to have pulled her hips into his groin area, as she had described, noting Charleyboy is six feet, two inches tall.
The witness, however, spoke firmly and reaffirmed her description of events and disagreed with Zipp’s assertions, which he put forward regarding her recollections of the alleged abuse.
Zipp suggested the abuse “just didn’t happen.”
Zipp also brought up an earlier instance where the allegations of abuse were reportedly brought to light by the witness’s biological father in dealings with the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD).
The witness admitted to denying the abuse took place at the time of the dealings with MCFD, at least in part due to the options she said were presented by the MCFD, which could have resulted in her having her children taken from her or her becoming unhoused at the time.
Zipp informed the court on the afternoon of Nov. 4 that his client will take the stand in his own defence on Nov. 5, as the trial continues.
The charges have not been proven in court.
Charleyboy is a former chief of Tsi Del Del First Nation, one of the communities of the Tsilhqot’in National Government.
Read More: Former Tsilhqot’in chief on trial in Williams Lake for historic sex abuse