Update: The B.C. Prosecution Service has confirmed that Hunter Moyes was acquitted on counts of sexual assault and sexual interference on Jan. 18, 2021.
Previous story follows. Warning: It contains details some readers might find disturbing.
SURREY, B.C. - The woman accusing well-known chef Hunter Moyes of sexual interference and assault described him as a "role model."
She took the stand Wednesday, but her identity cannot be revealed under a publication ban.
Carefully recounting several incidents, she told a Surrey provincial court judge that Moyes first made advances when she was under 16 years old. She figures he was 12 years older.
She described how he asked her to lie on the ground in a rural area near Penticton, spooned her, and then stroked her breasts over her shirt.
The complainant testified that around Christmas 2009, while Moyes was staying at her parents' Metro Vancouver home, he woke her up.
"The first thing I remember is smelling alcohol," she told the tiny courtroom.
"He began to touch me. He then pulled down my pants and performed oral sex on me."
She believes she was in Grade 9 at the time.
Moyes attained culinary fame when he appeared on Chopped Canada. He also showed off his skills on morning shows, including CTV Morning Live in 2015. He was once a chef at the University of British Columbia, Tacofino and the Waldorf Hotel. He founded the Tiffin Project - a reusable food container program.
His accuser also testified that she stayed a night in his Vancouver apartment. She wanted to go drinking and was still underage. She said she fell asleep in his bed.
"I woke up to intercourse," she told the judge.
Moyes has pleaded not guilty. It is early in the six-day trial and his lawyers have yet to present their case.
None of the allegations have been proven.
