By Tim Petruk
Kamloops This Week
Six of the eight alleged victims of a former RCMP officer and youth hockey coach facing sexual assault charges dating back more than 30 years have asked the Crown for special accommodations when they testify next month.
Alan Davidson’s four-day preliminary inquiry on eight charges of indecent assault by a male on a male person — as the Criminal Code was worded at the time of the alleged offences — is slated to get underway in Kamloops provincial court on Jan. 5.
The 60-year-old was arrested in March 2014 and charged in connection with the offences, which are alleged to have taken place in Clearwater.
Earlier this year, he was charged with three counts of sexual assault involving young boys in Yorktown, Sask., where he worked as an RCMP constable between 1986 and 1993.
At the time of his arrest in 2014, Davidson was working as a deputy sheriff in Alberta.
Six of the eight accusers have asked for special treatment when they testify.
Crown prosecutor Alexandra Janse said four of the complainants would like to testify by way of closed-circuit television, while two have requested to have a support person present.
An application is expected to be made by the Crown to have those requests granted some time before Jan. 5.
The 16-month investigation into Davidson’s actions came about after a Lower Mainland man went to police in 2012 claiming he had been sexually assaulted by his hockey coach in Clearwater in the early 1980s.
Seven additional complainants came forward during the course of the RCMP investigation.
Davidson was an officer in Saskatchewan from 1982 to 1996 and was posted in Regina, Coronach, Lloydminster, Yorkton and North Battleford.
Police said that, after he left the RCMP, Davidson lived in Camrose and Calgary in Alberta, as well as in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island.
Preliminary inquiries are hearings after which a judge determines whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.