A married father of five was found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old Peterborough, Ont., girl.
Stanley Tippett, 33, was arrested Aug. 6, 2008 after the girl was found half-naked behind a school in Courtice, some 70 kilometres from Peterborough.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Glass found Mr. Tippett guilty of all seven counts he was facing, including kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual interference.
Mr. Tippett had testified that he came across a group of young drunken girls in south-end Peterborough and that two of them, including the 12 year old, got into his van. He told the court that minutes after dropping off the older girl he was carjacked by two men at gunpoint and ditched in the country.
The Crown argued that there was no truth in Mr. Tippett's testimony about the carjackers.
Outside the court the girl's grandmother said she was "more than happy with the verdict."
"At least this way maybe he can't hurt another child," she said.
The victim was in court for the verdict and the women said her granddaughter wanted to be there to "start her own healing."
Const. Robbie Harding, with Durham Regional Police, testified during the trial that he responded to a call at the high school after receiving reports of screams and crying in a wooded area.
He came upon a man who fled in a red van upon seeing the police cruiser, and pursued the van, which was going so fast it became airborne at one point, court heard. Const. Harding was eventually told to stop the chase, but not before getting the van's licence plate, he testified.
When Const. Harding returned to the school he saw a young girl, holding onto a fence, staggering forward with her lower body exposed.
The van's licence plate was traced back to Mr. Tippett, and Const. Harding later identified Mr. Tippett from a photo lineup.
Mr. Tippett's lawyer challenged that evidence in court, saying his client's facial deformities, caused by a rare genetic disease, wouldn't have created a fair lineup.
Mr. Tippett's wife has said her husband and two of their five children have been diagnosed with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes cranial and facial deformities and can affect hearing, speech and breathing.
Court heard that the 12-year-old girl was severely intoxicated the night she was abducted by Mr. Tippett. A friend of the girl testified that she, the victim, and another girl, now 17, drank a 26-ounce bottle of rum the night of the attack.
A red van pulled up as they were struggling to help the victim walk, she testified, and a man asked if they were OK. The friend left to get help but didn't find any, and when she returned the man, her friends and the van were gone, she said.
The victim told the court she didn't remember drinking or doing drugs the night of the attack, and added she doesn't drink.
The girl, who was supposed to spend the night with her grandmother, also said she the last thing she remembered before waking up in the hospital was being at a friend's house.