Photographs help Kamloops man beat sex assault charge

KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops man accused of sexually assaulting a woman he met on the Internet was found not guilty today in Kamloops Supreme Court and it was his photographs of the sexual encounter that won the case.

Tyler Abear was charged with one count of sexual assault after a woman, whose name is protected by a court ban, alleged he forced anal sex on her without her permission and photographed it. 

The two met on the dating website Plenty of Fish about three months before the alleged incident.

Two versions of the same night were heard in court during the three-day trial about the early hours of June 12, 2011 after a keg party. Abear said he got permission to move from vaginal intercourse to anal intercourse after receiving a nod and a smile from her. However the woman was adamant she would never allow it, and that she protested while he pinned her down and raped her.

Justice Dev Dley said the woman was adamant in her testimony that she was pinned down by Abear during the entire encounter, however he said photographic evidence didn't add up.

"The photographs unequivocably contradict that evidence," Dley said.

He said the evidence was material evidence and 'taints the evidence' by the woman.

"I'm left with a reasonable doubt," he said.

As the verdict was read, Abear wiped sweat from his face with a folded handkerchief. The woman ran out of the courtroom in tears as the fiancé of the accused pumped her fist in the air.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.