Naked man in river at Pioneer Park beach not indecent, judge rules naked in river, but not guilty
A naked sex offender in the river at a busy downtown Kamloops beach this summer was not indecent, a judge has ruled, finding the Crown case against him too thin to convict.
Kenneth Wickstrom stood trial on one count of committing an indecent act in a public place. The charge stemmed from an alleged incident at Pioneer Park in June in which the 66-year-old was accused of stripping naked in the river and exposing himself to beachgoers.
Police were called to Pioneer Park at about noon on June 27 for a report of a naked man in the South Thompson River.
Court heard a number of witnesses said they saw Wickstrom naked in the river. One witness who said he saw Wickstrom naked said he “shrugged it off” and did not think to call police.
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Kamloops provincial court Judge Ray Phillips said he wasn’t convinced of Wickstrom’s guilt based on the evidence of the witnesses who testified at trial, so he found him not guilty.
“I would think that had the accused been naked for that long in a public place there would be no shortage of people coming forward with their concerns and observations,” he said.
“I accept that, at some point, the accused was naked. … However, it appears it was momentary.”
Wow, if this had happened in California he’d be doing time and be on the registry! What a difference in attitudes. Canada gave him the benefit of the doubt.
I couldn’t care less if the whole world walked around naked. Nakedness is not a sin, nor a crime UNLESS there is a sexual intent in violation of some society driven fear or a condition of some idiotic supervision (ty NJ and a couple other states). Even so, would the world end, would people starve, will babies be raped or explode or be sucked up by aliens, or the sun loose some of it’s life supporting qualities?
What if the River current was swift and he was upset that his suit kept coming off, so he decided to go commando? Just because someone is naked doesn’t mean it should be offensive; but to many people can’t stop themselves from being protected.
Naked in a Canadian river??
Yeah, that just sounds too cold!! 🥶