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Willie Mitchell, a former defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks, asserts in legal filings that the individual who initiated a lawsuit against him for alleged sexual assault in Tofino, B.C., willingly participated in their sexual encounter.
Mitchell’s account of the happenings is presented in his reply to a civil legal action filed in the B.C. Supreme Court last October by a complainant referred to solely as S.D.K.
S.D.K.’s legal complaint claims that following an evening of consuming alcohol and socializing at the Tofino Resort and Marina, a property Mitchell co-owns, he took her to his private residence and engaged in unprotected sexual activity with her without her permission.
In his counter-filing, Mitchell states that the plaintiff, then a 26-year-old server who was not on duty at the resort, “actively engaged in the sexual act.”
Mitchell asserts that on the evening of September 11, 2022, he became inebriated during his attendance at a function held at the Hatch Pub, which is part of the Tofino Resort and Marina. In addition to his co-ownership role, Mitchell held the position of the resort’s managing director at that point.
He alleges that S.D.K. initiated contact with him, and they proceeded to dance and exchange kisses on the dance floor, subsequently continuing their kissing in the washroom.
Mitchell indicates that a pre-arranged driver transported him and S.D.K. to his condominium and entered the dwelling with them. He further states that he and S.D.K. engaged in sexual relations that night and once more the subsequent morning.
Mitchell maintains that S.D.K. provided “… vocal and bodily affirmations of her pleasure both before and during the sexual encounter on September 12, 2022.”
“… Mitchell undertook appropriate steps to verify the plaintiff’s conscious agreement to partake in sexual activity and had no grounds to question her ability to grant such consent at the relevant moments,” states his legal filing.
The document further asserts that following S.D.K.’s complaint to the RCMP, a criminal inquiry, which Mitchell cooperated with completely, concluded without any charges being laid.
Mitchell, aged 48, spent his formative years in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island and participated in four of his fifteen NHL campaigns with the Vancouver Canucks. He secured Stanley Cup victories with the L.A. Kings in 2012 and 2014, subsequently retiring from the NHL in 2016.
The Tofino Resort and Marina, along with a related corporate entity, are also listed as defendants in S.D.K.’s legal action, which pursues compensation for sustained harm, comprising a reduction in both historical and prospective earning potential.
Her legal filing indicates her intention to present testimony from additional female claimants, who will purportedly assert that Mitchell’s prior conduct involved “mentally or physically compelling or pressuring inebriated young women into sexual acts,” and “sexually harassing and/or assaulting female employees of the Tofino Resort.”
Mitchell’s reply observes that he has “conscientiously undergone therapy since the occurrences of September 11, 2022, and dedicates his efforts and focus to his household.”
The document proceeds to characterize him as a “devoted humanitarian” engaged in philanthropic endeavors throughout British Columbia.
