The judge overseeing the William Kirby trial has found the accused guilty on five of six counts. This morning the 74-year-old was found guilty of indecent assault, common assault, pointing a firearm, sexual assault and assault. The charges involve two victims dating back between 1974 and 2001. Sentencing for Kirby will take place March 10th, 2021 at 10:00am.
Justice Adriana Doyle says the victims provided credible statements during trial and she rejected the evidence presented by Kirby.
Kirby was found guilty of rape (sexual assault) and forced anal rape (considered an indecent act at the time). The judge felt both victims provided sincere, genuine and non-exaggerated statements. The victims showed discomfort while trying to remember difficult details. The victims also admitted when they weren’t able to remember certain details like what they were wearing or what took place in the moments leading up to the assaults.
Justice Doyle noted in her decision it’s not up to the courts to speculate on how victims of abuse should behave. These remarks followed her ruling on the indecent and sexual assaults which were not reported to police until in some cases almost 50-years after they happened.
The judge says inconsistencies affected the credibility of Kirby.
One of the victims says during a heated argument, Kirby pointed a firearm at them and demanded they take off their clothes. The victim remembers diving under a table to hide, but doesn’t recall hearing a trigger click. The victim left and when they returned to the house they said their clothes were thrown outside, something Kirby denied on the stand. While on trial, Kirby admitted to owning a firearm at the time of the incident and says he told the victim to “get the F- out”, but did not point a weapon or make those demands. The judge noted in her decision that she did not accept his response of simply dropping the bags of clothes outside.
Another incident the judge pointed out to highlight inconsistencies in the statements provided by Kirby involved his recording of phone calls. On trial, Kirby testified that he only started taping phone calls to try and catch someone who was selling marijuana to a teenager. A 4-hour phone recording was presented in court as evidence that featured multiple voices. Other evidence entered into court showed a basement room in the Arnprior house owned by Kirby that was under lock and had recording software set-up. One witness took the stand and says they remember going into work with Kirby, who was a Bell Canada employee for 30-years, to listen into phone calls.
While is wasn’t the overriding factor, Justice Doyle also spoke about the demeanor of Kirby while he was on trial. Kirby appeared to be short-tempered at times when he was being cross examined. During trial Crown Attorney Caitlin Downing asked Kirby if he used force to get victims to stop talking he lashed back accusing her of “putting words in his mouth” or “telling him what he is or isn’t”.
Kirby was found not guilty on one additional count of assault were he was accused of forcing a victims head into a toilet bowl. The judge says the details surrounding this incident were vague and left her with a reasonable doubt.
The historic sexual assault charges were laid in 2018 following a separate police investigation involving Kirby. Kirby was arrested and charged with attempted murder in September of 2018 after a woman was found in a wooded area of McNab/Braeside in critical condition. In January of 2020, a judge ruled to split the historic sexual assault trial and more recent attempted murder trial. Kirby go back starting January 4th, 2021 for the attempted murder trial which is expected to last two weeks.
The former Arnprior area resident remains out of custody and is currently living at a bail house in Ottawa. Kirby is well-known in the Ottawa Valley as a former hockey referee and active volunteer in the community.
Photo: Screenshot of William Kirby during a ZOOM meeting with the courts on November 30th, 2020.
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Kirby accused of recording phone calls, forced sex and several counts of assault