WARNING: This article contains content related to an alleged sexual assault which may be distressing to some readers. 

The trial of a former Vernon chiropractor accused of sexually assaulting a patient in 2021 began at the Vernon Law Courts Tuesday, Aug. 6.

Murray Kievit stands accused of two counts of sexual assault which are alleged to have taken place Dec. 7 and 9, 2021, against one complainant. 

Kievit appeared in the courtroom before Justice David Ruse, who on Tuesday morning heard testimony from the complainant, who cannot be named due to a publication ban. 

The Crown told the court that the complainant would be testifying that Kievit touched her breasts without her consent during a Dec. 7 treatment session, and then touched her pubic area without her consent during a Dec. 9 session.

"I anticipate, if you accept the evidence of the complainant, what this will come down to is consent, whether or not she consented," the Crown told Justice Ruse. 

At the time of the alleged offences, Kievit was working as a chiropractor in Vernon at White House Wellness Centre, which he founded in 2006. Last summer, amid the sexual assault allegations, Kievit had his registration permanently cancelled by the College of Chiropractors of B.C.

The complainant told the court that she sought treatment from Kievit after having multiple surgeries, saying chiropractic treatment was one of the services she required to get back to full health following the surgeries. 

She told the court that her first appointment with Kievit was on Nov. 17, 2021, when she filled out an intake form and signed a consent form. She said the two of them discussed the treatment she would need on her neck, back and hips, adding he treated these areas during this first appointment without incident. She said Kievit was very talkative and "jovial" throughout the course of the treatment.

The complainant said she underwent a total of five treatment sessions with Kievit, and it was the last two in which the alleged sexual assaults took place. 

The complainant said at the Dec. 7 session, she was "taken off guard" when the accused began massaging her right breast area, and then her left breast, telling her this was a pectoral adjustment he had successfully used on athletes before. She said the massaging was skin on skin, and Kievit had not asked for consent to touch this part of her body. She alleged he also did not offer her a towel for privacy. 

The complainant said her mind was racing after the incident occurred. "I was uncomfortable, and I didn't understand what was going on," she told the court. "He didn't inform me of what he was going to do."

The complainant said she returned two days later, on Dec. 9, for further treatment. Upon entering the White House Wellness Centre, she said she noticed there was no one in the centre aside from Kievit, who invited her into his office and then closed the door behind them. She said they did not discuss any changes to her original treatment plan.

The complainant, through tears, alleged that during this treatment session, Kievit pulled her pants down slightly, pulled her underwear to the side and touched her exposed pubic area, telling her that her hip flexor was tight, and telling her a story of how he had performed a "pubic adjustment" in this way on a pregnant woman in the past.

The complainant alleged that like the pectoral adjustment from two days earlier, Kievit had never asked for permission to perform this "pubic adjustment," as he had called it. She said this treatment had not been previously discussed during any of their meetings. 

"I had never had a chiropractor do anything like this," said the complainant, who had previously told the court that she had been to other chiropractors prior to seeing Kievit.

The court heard the complainant made a complaint to the chiropractic board about the incidents on Dec. 24, 2021, having spoken to police the day before. 

Tuesday's testimony marked the first of four days that have been scheduled for the trial. Defence lawyer Michael Klein was expected to cross-examine the complainant Tuesday afternoon.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.