Man accused in alleged drugged sex assaults pleads not guilty
Yvette Brend | CBC News | Posted: February 6, 2017 10:41 PM | Last Updated: February 8, 2017
Alan Lai pleaded not guilty to 2 alleged sexual assaults and 2 charges of administering a 'stupefying' drug
A man originally co-accused with a filmmaker in an alleged plot to film sex with drugged women has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges.
Alan Lai pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and two counts of administering a "stupefying or overpowering drug" before an application to Justice Terence Schultes in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.
Lai's alleged assaults in Richmond and Vancouver involved two women who are not identified by court order.
Lai, who is in his 30s, was originally co-accused with a 51-year-old independent film producer named Raymond Law.
But the two men's trials have been severed and will be heard separately.
On Monday, Lai's lawyers made an application to the judge to sever the two cases into two separate trials.
Lai's trial was scheduled to go ahead Monday but is now expected to begin by Friday, while Law's trial will not begin until later this year.
Lai produced a film called Ecstasy in which women are lured into a life of partying and abuse.
None of the five females alleging sexual assaults by Law or Lai appear in that film.
But several are alleging they were videotaped by Law.
Law is facing 15 criminal charges including sexual assault, attempting to administer a "stupefying or overpowering drug" and unlawfully observing or recording someone naked or engaged in explicit sexual activity and one charge of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
All of the alleged attacks took place between December 2012 and 2013 and none of the women involved can be named to protect their identities.
Law in custody
In late December, Law was released on $20,000 bail with 19 conditions, subject to an overnight curfew confining him to his luxury False Creek condo at night.
He was banned from being alone with any woman and from possessing a camera or video recorder of any kind.
He was also prohibited from serving, providing or purchasing any beverage for any female who is not a family member.
But on July 26, 2014 he was rearrested and charged with a number of breaches of his bail conditions.
Since then, he has been returned to custody, awaiting trial, according to B.C.'s Criminal Justice Branch.
None of the charges have been proven in court.