At the end of this month, a B.C. Supreme Court judge will make her decision in the case of a Vernon businessman alleged to have sexually assaulted a minor 21 years ago.
Keith Chase will appear in Vernon court to learn his fate, as decided by trial judge Sheri Donegan, on Jan. 31, according to the BC Prosecution Service.
Chase, the owner of Chasers Bottle Depot in Vernon, is accused of sexually assaulting the complainant in the case when she was 16 and playing on the hockey team Chase coached in 2004.
The date for the decision to be handed down was decided at a Jan. 20 hearing. It marks the near-end of a court matter that has stretched years.
Chase was charged in 2020 and pleaded not guilty. He was found guilty and convicted of the sexual assault in 2022 but appealed the conviction and the two-year jail sentence, arguing the trial judge erred by failing to properly consider inconsistencies between the complainant's police statement and her trial testimony.
The appeal was granted and a retrial 鈥� the current matter before the courts 鈥� was granted.
Chase's second trial concluded in December with Justice Donegan reserving her decision for a later date, now confirmed to be Jan. 31.
During both trials, the court heard that the alleged assault took place at Chase's residence where the complainant was having a sleepover prior to a hockey game in Kamloops the next day.
A report on the conclusion of the retrial can be read at .
