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Perverse Social Worker / Barber
January 12, 2015 permalink
A young man in British Columbia was drinking at the home of his former social worker Michael Hume. He fell asleep and when he awoke he was naked and Hume had shaved off most of his body hair. Police believed the story after finding the hair in Hume's vacuum cleaner.
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Social worker accused of sexual assault
A longtime youth and justice worker in Lytton is accused of sexually assaulting a resident of the community he once assisted.
Michael Hume is charged with sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering threats stemming from an incident the Crown alleges occurred on Aug. 8, 2013, at his home in the small Fraser Canyon community.
Hume’s trial began on Thursday, Jan. 8, in front of a 12-person jury in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.
The complainant cannot be named due to a court order protecting his identity.
Lytton First Nation Chief Janet Webster testified that Hume arrived from outside the small community more than 10 years ago. His first position was as a recreation and youth worker and, later, as a court worker with a restorative-justice program that brings victims and those convicted of crimes together in a healing circle or by other means.
Hume became ingrained in the band, marrying the former band administrator, who has since died.
Crown prosecutor Chris Balison told the jury the young adult who went to police after the incident “didn’t have the easiest life.
“He was a drinker,” Balison said.
“He struggled with anxiety.”
The man testified he was drinking at a friend’s house in Lytton on Aug. 8, 2013, when he decided to walk home.
He changed his mind en route, stopping at St. Bartholemew’s Hospital to use the phone.
In his opening to the jury, Balison said Hume came along and the two smoked and chatted outside the hospital. Balison said Hume offered a ride to his own house, which the young man declined several times before eventually accepting.
Once at Hume’s house, Balison said, the man went into the bathroom where he was sick. Twenty minutes later, he came out to a drink prepared by the social worker.
Balison said the young man awoke unclothed after blacking out to find Hume shaving his body, including his genitals.
Balison said the man looked beside him and saw what he thought was his own body hair shaved off.
“He didn’t agree to this,” Balison told the jury. “He didn’t want this to happen. He was scared.”
A recording was played in court of a telephone call the complainant made to the band chief from Hume’s house, after when the Crown alleges the assault occurred.
“I need you to pick up right now, please — pick up, please,” the man could be heard pleading on the message to an empty house.
Balison said the Crown will attempt to prove Hume cleaned up the shaven hair, which was later obtained from Hume’s vacuum after RCMP obtained a search warrant.
Webster testified she noticed one of the young man’s armpits was shaved, something she had not seen before.
The young man is expected to testify that after the assault, Hume grabbed a bottle of alcohol, wielding it in a threatening way and telling him not to leave.
Balison said Hume later drove the young man home, giving him $50 and telling him not to tell anyone of the incident.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Friday.
Source: Kamloops This Week
‘He pretty much shaved me everywhere,’ complainant says of social worker charged with sex assault
A Lytton resident struggled through tears in B.C. Supreme Court as he testified about awaking naked after a drinking session to find his former social worker shaving off most of his body hair.
Michael Hume is charged with sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering threats stemming from an incident the Crown alleges occurred on Aug. 8, 2013, at his home in Lytton
The young man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban protecting his identity, testified this week in a B.C. Supreme Court trial in front of a 12-person jury.
The complainant testified he reluctantly accepted a ride from Hume to his house after drinking at a friend’s house. He otherwise faced a long walk home.
“I gave in and said yes,” he told court.
Once there, the young man said he immediately went to the bathroom because he was sick from drinking too much alcohol.
When he came out, he found Hume at the kitchen table offering him a drink of Captain Morgan rum and root beer.
He had a few sips but didn’t like it. He testified going to his backpack to retrieve a beer but there were none inside.
The young man also told the jury he tried to steal one of Hume’s other bottles of hard liquor but got caught and was told to put it back.
He went back to the drink at the table chatting with Hume before finishing about a quarter of his drink and passing out.
“I woke up on the floor naked in the living room,” he said.
“He [Hume] had my left leg in the air and was shaving underneath my testicles. I said ‘what the f–k are you doing?'”
The complainant testified Hume replied, “Don’t be mad — your girlfriend will like it anyway.”
“He pretty much shaved me everywhere,” he said.
“I was itchy and there was hair everywhere beside me.”
Janet Webster, chief of the Lytton First Nation, testified Hume arrived in the small Fraser Valley community 10 years ago, working first as a youth and recreation councillor and later as a native court worker assisting with restorative justice and helping young band members in trouble with the law — including the complainant.
The complainant said following the shaving, Hume at first threatened him with a bottle, telling him he couldn’t leave. He said he made several frantic phone calls to get a ride while Hume was elsewhere in the house.
When he told Hume he was going to report the episode, he said the social worker “just laughed and said, ‘No one will believe you anyway.’
“He’s probably right,” he said.
“He buys everyone’s love with money. Everyone likes him.”
Throughout his testimony, the young man said he felt scared and disgusted by the episode.
Eventually, the complainant said, Hume drove him to his cousin’s house, throwing him $50.
“He told me not to tell anyone,” he said.
“He told me I was a good kid and didn’t want me to do anything bad.”
The complainant said he immediately told his cousin about the incident. Soon after, RCMP took him to hospital for photographs of his shaven body, which were shown to jurors as evidence. He said he’d never shaved his own body hair.
In his opening to jurors, prosecutor Chris Balison said the Crown will attempt to prove Hume cleaned up the shaven hair, which was later found inside Hume’s vacuum cleaner after RCMP obtained a search warrant.
Source: Kamloops This Week
