Okanagan Conservative candidate speaks up after political rival unearths unproven historic sexual assault charges

The Kelowna–Lake Country–Coldstream BC Conservative candidate is speaking out after a political rival dredged up long-dismissed historic sexual assault charges from 20 years ago and were later stayed.

BC Conservative candidate Pavneet Singh said in a statement that in 2006 he was mistakenly accused of being involved in an incident that took place in a public park.

“I was celebrating Canada Day in a public park. An incident with which I had nothing to do with occurred, and I was mistakenly accused of being involved,” Singh said in the statement.

“I was innocent. I was falsely accused, and when the Crown prosecutor realized that, the charges were stayed.”

Vernon court records show that Singh was charged in November 2006 with sexual assault, touching a person under 14 for a sexual purpose and unlawful confinement, for an incident alleged to have taken place in July that year. The case had been scheduled to go to a three-day trial, but never got there, after Crown prosecutors stayed all three charges in February 2008. As is standard practice in Canada, Crown prosecutors do not give reasons for why charges are stayed.

Singh was 22 years old at the time.

The historic charges came to light, Oct. 15, after OneBC posted a vague social media post saying Singh had once been charged, although it didn’t say what with.

With such a common name, most commentators thought it was likely someone else.

When asked, Singh’s campaign manager Rob Murphy said that OneBC had said “all kinds of crazy things” about Singh that were untrue.

“It’s up to them really, if they’ve got an allegation and they’ve got some evidence, it’s up to them to bring it forward and produce it,” Murphy told iNFOnews.ca. “Pavneet was vetted by both the BC United Party back in 2023 when it existed and… his candidacy application was vetted by the party.”

However, after the charges were confirmed by iNFOnews.ca, Murphy acknowledged them.

“In our judicial system… people are obviously considered innocent until they’re proven guilty, and in this case, there was no process for that because the allegations were false and the charges were dropped,” Murphy said and refused to comment further.

After multiple phone calls from iNFOnews.ca, Singh responded with his statement.

“It is disappointing that political opponents are seeking to revive a false accusation from 20 years ago to attack me. I have been an upstanding member of the community, a loyal father and husband, and a proud British Columbian seeking to serve his community,” Singh said.

Last month, the BC Conservatives picked Singh to run in the Kelowna–Lake Country–Coldstream riding, instead of former City of Kelowna councillor and former federal Conservative MP Tracy Gray who announced her desire to be the candidate hours before Singh was chosen.

Singh, 42, is a Kelowna businessman who owns franchises of Pita Pit, Fresh Slice Pizza and OneStop/Canco gas stations.

The BC Conservative Party did not respond to our request for comment.