Woman sues former B.C. city councillor who was convicted of sexually assaulting her as a teen

A woman who was sexually assaulted by a former city councillor in Pitt Meadows, B.C., when she was a teenager has filed a civil lawsuit in the wake of the abuser's criminal conviction, claiming she should be compensated for decades of mental anguish.

The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, reported David Murray to police for sexually assaulting her in the early 1990s. He was convicted of sexual assault in 2017 and spent four months in jail.

The victim said the jail term was not enough.

"That's not justice," she wrote in a statement issued by her lawyer, Janelle O'Connor.

"I am grateful that the criminal trial gave me an opportunity to say out loud what he did to me and lay it at his feet where it belongs, but it wasn't justice served."

Murray was victim's boss, claim says

The woman said she started working for Murray in 1992, when she was around 14 years old. She had got her first job working for Murray at his memorabilia business, Tiger Sports Collectables, in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

The claim said Murray, then 36, asked her to come to work early one morning. After she got there, the documents said, Murray told her he had been studying massage for sports-related injuries and asked to practise on her knee.

The filing said he rubbed her knee before touching her legs and genitals.

The woman said she finished her shift after the assault, but never went back to work at the store again.

Murray has not filed a response to the civil claim.

In the years that followed, Murray worked for the parks and recreations department in Port Coquitlam. He also coached basketball and baseball at what was then called Capilano College and Terry Fox Secondary School. 

He was elected to council in Pitt Meadows, a city that borders Port Coquitlam, in 2011.

The woman reported the assault to police in 2015. 

Murray, who was then into his second term on council, hired a private investigator to follow and "befriend" the woman to gain her trust for as many as nine months during the police investigation, according to the claim.

Murray was criminally charged in relation to the assault in late 2016 and stayed on city council until shortly after he was convicted of sexual assault on Oct. 25, 2017.

He resigned his seat after pressure from the public and fellow councillors.

Appeal rejected

In 2018, Murray was sentenced to nine months in jail and was released after serving four. The B.C. Court of Appeal rejected his application to overturn his conviction on Feb. 4, 2020.

The woman, who is now in her 40s, is seeking damages for loss of enjoyment of life, claiming she now lives with post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and several other conditions. 

"The trajectory of my life was permanently altered the day he molested me. I will spend my life unravelling all of the ways the assault hurt me," the woman wrote in her statement.

"The harm that he caused me wasn't considered in his sentencing. In a civil suit, he'll have to answer for the harm he caused."

The court ordered that any of the private investigator's tapes, copies, transcripts or recordings be destroyed, but the woman does not know if that has been done.