Two men accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at the Hotel Belmont on Vancouver’s Granville Street have lost their bid to have a judge dismiss a civil claim by the alleged victim.
The lawsuit, from a plaintiff identified as D.K.E., names Hotel Belmont F&B Ltd., Pacific Reach Properties Ltd., At Home Hospitality Ltd., 0746115 B.C. Ltd., John Doe #1, John Doe #2 and John Doe #3 as defendants.
The men, whose identities are sealed by court order, were named in a recent court document as Adam Doe and Tom Doe.
They have not officially been added to the list of defendants in the lawsuit.
Nonetheless, they argued that D.K.E.’s court action is frivolous, vexatious and constitutes an abuse of process.
D.K.E. countered that her claim “establishes a legitimate cause of action.”
In her judgment on Tom and Adam Doe’s application to dismiss the case, Justice Sandra Sukstorf said they failed to meet the necessary burden of proof. As such, she declined to strike the lawsuit.
The lawsuit itself surrounds D.K.E.’s allegations that she was served enough alcohol to get intoxicated to the point where she “became unconscious.”
While she was passed out, the John Does sexually assaulted her, she alleged.
The judgment on allowing the case to proceed noted that facts in the case included that during the evening of Jan. 11, 2020, D.K.E. went to the Basement, which is a bar on the bottom floor of Hotel Belmont.
“At this venue, she was served and consumed alcohol until she was intoxicated,” the judgment said.
She then allegedly tried to make it back to Room 107 at Hotel Belmont, where she was staying, at around 11:30 p.m, the lawsuit said.
D.K.E said that on the way back to her hotel room, she was either invited or pulled into Room 111 by the John Does, the judgment said.
“There, she consumed further alcohol provided by the John Does. She also asserts that the John Does were drinking alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated and/or under the influence of drugs,” according to the lawsuit.
D.K.E. alleged that, while in Room 111, she lost consciousness. While unconscious, she was subjected to unwanted sexual activity by both Tom and Adam Doe, she claimed. She said that she did not consent, and she was too drunk to consent to any sexual activity.
Hotel staff were alerted that D.K.E. was in Room 111 when “an individual staying in the room contacted security to report a woman in their room who should not have been there.”
Hotel security contacted police.
Police found D.K.E. nude, unconscious and very difficult to wake, according to the judgment.
When an officer identified as Const. Wilson roused her, she appeared heavily intoxicated, disoriented, and unable to explain where she was, who she had been with, or how she had gotten to Room 111, according to the judgment.
“D.K.E. repeatedly expressed a desire to be left alone so she could return to sleep,” the judgment said. “When Constable Wilson told her that her friends were worried something might have happened to her, she looked offended and spontaneously stated, ‘I wasn’t raped.’”
Nonetheless, she was taken to hospital, where staff considered her too intoxicated to give consent for a forensic sexual assault examination.
“As her intoxication subsided and she became more aware of her surroundings, she told police that she could not recall what had occurred, but that she believed she may have been sexually assaulted.”
Justice Sukstorf said that she finds that the central issues in the case “turn on findings of credibility. These contested facts before the court cannot be resolved on an application to strike. These matters require a full evidentiary hearing.”
None of the allegations have been proven in a court of law.
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