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see page 13 Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Physiotherapist guilty of assaults on female patients Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
A
Andrew Leong
City of Duncan workers Ian Brimacombe and Josh Van Wieren put up Christmas decorations at the corner of Ingram Street and Canada Avenue and throughout the streets of downtown Duncan in preparation for the official arrival of the holiday season Friday.
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Cowichan physiotherapist has been found guilty of sexually assaulting eight of his patients. Judge Keith Bracken delivered the verdict Tuesday afternoon in Duncan Supreme Court after reviewing the evidence surrounding the allegations of 12 different women. The women recounted a number of separate incidents where they said Campbell had touched them in a variety of inappropriate places, or ways, with his hands or his erect penis, while treating them at Cowichan Physiotherapy In four cases, Bracken found enough reasonable doubt the touching could have been of an accidental or professional nature. But eight times the judge ruled the women’s testimony outweighed Chrichton’s claims of misinterpretated actions, or that his erection was the result of medication. Proceedings were originally to Campbell Chrichton: have happened Friday, Nov. 21, guilty but a scheduling error sent the case over to Tuesday. Chrichton had originally been facing 23 counts, but Bracken explained 11 ended up being dropped for a variety of reasons. Earlier, Crown lawyers Leah Fontaine, and Peter Benning said one patient died, while another charge was dropped after evidence was assessed, and Crown chose not to proceed “because it no longer met charge standard,” Fontaine has stated. “The most concerning thing to the court is that (Crichton) was in a position of trust,” Fontaine has told the News Leader Pictorial. Crichton, now in his 50s, was initially charged in March 2011 with five counts of sexual assault for the alleged offences. Police said those incidents involved five different female clients between 1996 and June 2009, and involved various forms of inappropriate touching during treatments. At the time of Crichton’s arrest in spring 2011, the RCMP asked any other potential victims to come forward. The case has been adjourned until Jan. 5 to fix a date for for sentencing. The verdict arrived just as the News Leader Pictorial was going to press. For more on the judge’s ruling, log on to cowichannewsleader.com
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