Warning: this article contains graphic content.
The trial of a 26-year-old Sundre man facing alleged sex crimes against two minor females is underway in Didsbury provincial court.
The accused faces 13 charges, including sexual assault, two counts of child luring, two counts of possession of child pornography, two counts of providing sexually explicit material to a minor, two counts of invitation to sexual touching with a person under 16, and criminal harassment.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Judge Bruce Fraser is presiding over the trial. Jenny Rees is the Crown prosecutor and John Hooker is the defence lawyer.
The trial got underway on March 12, with one of the two complainants in the case testifying for about two hours.
The girl, who cannot be identified under a court order, testified that the accused first contacted her through a social media network in October 2017.
“He added me and messaged me,” the girl testified. “I wasn’t aware of who he was.”
A short time later the pair arranged to meet in person and had sexual intercourse, she said.
“I told him I was 13 years old," she said. "He knew I was 13. He knew what grade (8) I was in. We slept with each other. We had sex.”
She said over a period of several weeks in late 2017 and early 2018 the accused would routinely pick her up near her school and they would then have intercourse in his vehicle or at an area residence.
“About 90 per cent of the time we hung out we had intercourse,” she said.
The pair had intercourse about a dozen times, she said.
The accused would text her pornographic photographs, she said.
He sent her the photos to “show me what he wanted me to do when we were having intercourse,” she said.
The accused sent naked photos and videos of himself to her, she said.
The girl also sent naked photos of herself to the accused, court heard.
The pair smoked marijuana provided by the accused on a few occasions, she said.
They ended contact with each other in January 2018, she said.
“I felt a lot of shame for how I was involved with him,” she said. “He was aware of my age as soon as we started talking (on social media).”
During his cross-examination of the girl, defence lawyer John Hooker asked her if she told the accused that she was 17 years old.
She replied, “No. I’ve always been honest about my age. He was an adult and I was a child. I did not lie to him about my age.
“I felt used. He used me for sexual pleasure and I was a child.”
The trial resumed on March 13 with the testimony of Sundre RCMP Const. Jared Hamilton.
He started an investigation after receiving information that sexually explicit photos were being electronically shared with local students, he said.
The investigation led him to question and charge the accused on Feb. 3, 2018.
The trial has now been adjourned until June 18, when the second complainant is scheduled to testify.
It is not known if the accused, Tyson James Dichrow, 26, plans to testify in his own defence.
