A Vernon chiropractor with a lengthy history of sexual misconduct against his clients has lost an attempt to overturn a sexual assault conviction.

At the Vernon courthouse, Aug. 5, BC Supreme Court Justice Briana Hardwick found that no errors had been made in convicting Murray Stephen Kievit of sexually assaulting a client back in 2021.

“Simply stated… and the fulsome review of the trial reasons, the trial judge did not believe (Kievit’s) version of events… for multiple reasons,” Justice Hardwick said. “There can simply be no doubt when one reviews the trial transcripts, which included the use of a diagram with alphabetical labels for relevant aspects of the female pubic area anatomy.”

Sitting in the courtroom, the victim broke down in tears when hearing that the justice had dismissed the appeal.

In January, Kievit was sentenced to six months’ house arrest – which he gets to spend in his $1.2-million Coldstream home – after Judge David Ruse found him guilty of sexually assaulting a patient during a chiropractic session in late 2021.

Kievit pleaded not guilty and argued that touching the victim’s pubic area was therapeutic and part of the treatment.

However, the judge didn’t buy it, saying that Kievit was “defensive and argumentative” during trial and there was no legitimate therapeutic reason for the touching.

Crown prosecutors had wanted to see Kievit in jail, but instead he was placed under house arrest.

In April, he appealed the conviction.

Kievit, who is in his early 60s, made numerous arguments for why the conviction should be overturned, saying there was a lack of a sexual motive and it could have been mere professional incompetence.

However, Justice Hardwick dismissed them all.

During the original trial, Kievit showed no remorse for what he’d done as he’d gained the woman’s trust over several appointments before he then sexually assaulted her. She’d trusted him to provide treatment but was left “violated, degraded,” and “dehumanized.”

Kievit has a lengthy history of sexual misconduct dating back more than 25 years.

In the late 90s he was charged with sexually assaulting six of his patients, but was later acquitted after trial.

Following the trial, the regulator took action against him, fining him $4,000 along with $15,000 in costs.

In 2009, he was suspended for three months and barred from treating females after he admitted to putting his hands in the front of a woman’s pants without her consent. He also had to pay $4,900.

In 2023, after being charged, the College of Chiropractors of BC permanently cancelled his licence and ordered him to pay $1,000.

After losing his appeal, Kievit will now have to finish the remainder of his house arrest.