A provincial court judge has rejected the evidence of a former Camosun College student charged with voyeurism that Saanich police threatened him, then promised to release him if he co-operated with their investigation.
Chun Wai Jackie Wong testified during a voir dire yesterday that Saanich Const. Corey Volk threatened him after he allegedly used his cellphone to record a woman showering in the change room at the Young Building on the Lansdowne campus.
Wong testified that Volk was angry and said, "I have been a police officer for a long time and I believe you did it."
Wong, who wore a ski jacket with a fur-lined hood as he testified, also told the court he didn't understand anything that police told him about talking to a lawyer after his arrest.
The voir dire was held to determine whether Wong's statement to police was given voluntarily. In the end, Judge Adrian Brooks decided Wong's evidence didn't make any sense and the statement was admitted into evidence.
"I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt the statement by Mr. Wong is voluntary," said Brooks.
The judge also found Wong had not been misled by the police and that his charter rights were not violated.
During the interview, Const. John Grennan asked Wong how long he recorded the woman in the shower. Wong replied about 30 seconds. "In cross-examination, Wong said he just made that answer up," said Brooks. "That answer is simply not believable at all. The reason Mr. Wong said that is because that is the truth of the matter. He is telling what he knows."
On the video, throughout his statement, Wong appears calm, noted Brooks. He answers questions and rarely has to explain himself. "He explains what happened from his point of view, giving an innocent explanation."
Wong also wanted to apologize to the woman, Brooks observed. Later on, Wong indicated he didn't want his relatives to know what happened.
"If Mr. Wong simply didn't care, why would he be concerned about what his relatives think? That tells me what's going on in Mr. Wong's mind," said Brooks.
Earlier in the trial, the alleged victim testified that on March 5, 2009, she was in the shower when a man stuck his head under the partition between shower stalls. She saw a cellphone being held beneath the partition, with its red light glowing.
The woman, whose name is protected by a court order, called for help and was taken into a nearby office by college staff. Wong was taken into another office and held until police arrived.
During the interview, Wong told Grennan he had a blister-like injury to his toe and needed to keep it clean. He said he mistakenly went into the women's shower room, sat down in a shower stall and took off his shoes and socks to wash his foot and dry it. He held his cellphone in his hand because he didn't want to put it down on the wet floor, he said.
