Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault and may be distressing to some readers.
A Vancouver bar owner has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman more than 40 years younger than him while her sometimes passed-out mother sat close by.
On Dec. 23, Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Gregory Rideout convicted Chih Hwa Leo Chow, 66, of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old at the Brickhouse Late Nite Bistro and Bar in 2022 when she and her mother, a friend of Chow’s, stopped by the bar.
Rideout said the woman, who identified herself to Chow as a lesbian, did not consent to having sexual contact with him.
The judge said when the woman confronted Chow and said he had sexually assaulted her, he testified he felt “stunned, anger, hurt and wow.” He said he felt betrayed as he had treated the woman “properly.”
“I find the only betrayal committed that evening at the Brickhouse was the accused’s violation of the physical integrity and sexual autonomy of the complainant,” Rideout said. “By no standard was she ever treated ‘properly’ by the accused.”
Rideout concluded the daughter did not consent to the sexual behaviour.
“I find the accused’s evidence of the sexual encounters with the complaint to be bizarre,” Rideout said in his Dec. 23 decision.
What happened?
The woman, then 21, and her mother stopped by the bar on Sept. 16, 2022. The mother had worked with Chow, then 65, in the hospitality business in the past and considered him a friend. The daughter had never met him. There was no one else in the bar.
Rideout said Chow prepared a variety of drinks and shooters.
The daughter said she found it unusual Chow mixed the drinks under the bar. He made the daughter an Old-Fashioned, a drink she said tasted “definitely different” than any other Old-Fashioned she had before.
“The industry practice is to prepare drinks in front of customers,” Rideout said.
The daughter complained several times of feeling ill and was sick in the bathroom several times.
The mother said the “shooters just kept coming” despite the fact she said, “no more.”
The accused was sitting between the two women on a couch. The mother said there were occasions she blacked out or passed out on the couch.
The mother said Chow tried to kiss her while she was having a cigarette on the bar’s back steps.
Chow confirmed that. He said they were kissing and hugging, and that he had put a hand on her breast without seeking consent.
“We usually do that when we see each other,” Chow said. “We embrace, kiss and touching.”
At one point, the daughter had gone to the bathroom and vomited twice. On her return to the bar, Chow suggested she lie down on the couch. Soon, he had laid down beside her and moved his hands under her clothes.
She broke away and ran to the bathroom where she again vomited, the court heard.
The daughter was asked how she felt during that incident.
“How much I hated it,” she said. “How much I wished that he was not touching me. How I wanted to get out of the bar.”
She testified she did not consent.
“I am not attracted to him,” she testified. “He is much older than me. He was considered one of my mom’s friends and I wouldn’t ever have done that. That’s not who I am and I would much rather give consent to someone who is a lot closer to my age.”
After being sick the second time, she returned to the bar and the couch.
Chow again fondled her, the court heard.
Again, she ran to the bathroom and was sick.
When she emerged, she found Chow with his genitals exposed. The decision said Chow pushed her up against a wall and put his hand down her pants.
She broke away and told her mother what had happened.
“Her mother reacted by telling her they had to leave,” Rideout said.
The accused’s testimony
Chow has owned the Brickhouse for 33 years.
He said he was going to make the daughter a New-Fashioned, a modification of the Old-Fashioned bourbon-based cocktail. He denied he made any drinks under the bar.
Chow testified the daughter had put her head on his shoulder at one point and was soon horizontal on the couch.
“The accused was physically uncomfortable so he moved into a horizontal position parallel to the complainant,” Rideout said.
Chow testified the daughter started the sexual contact. He also told the court he was conversing with the mother at the same time.
Chow denied exposing his genitals and said it was the daughter who again initiated the sexual activity.
Asked about the daughter initiating sexual activity with her mother there, Chow said: “It was bizarre. It’s surreal. Sorry, unreal. Knowing the mother is to my immediate right, it was bizarre.”
On the issue of consent, Rideout “agreed that at no time did the (daughter) verbally consent to engage in sexual activity.”
The judge said “it was his opinion that (the mother) could see and hear everything that was going on.”
Rideout said Chow’s actions were reckless and rendered him wilfully blind.
If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
- In an emergency, call 911
- In a crisis, call 1-800-563-0808
- To report a person under 19 who needs protection to the Ministry of Children and Family Development, call 310-1234 (no area code required)
You can find a full list of resources on the B.C. government’s website.
