A Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge has found Stephen Hopkins guilty of sexually assaulting and forcibly detaining him for assaulting a 17-year-old girl at her St. John’s home.
The verdict, handed down by Judge Donald Burridge on Friday afternoon, marks the end of a lengthy trial during which Hopkins tested the court’s patience.
During the six weeks marked by delays and winding lines of Hopkins’ interrogations, Crown Prosecutor Jennifer Standon presented evidence ranging from eyewitness testimony placing Hopkins at the applicant’s home to DNA evidence found on the applicant’s body.
Among the witnesses was the young woman herself, whom Burridge described as “the most credible and candid witness.”
She described sitting on the front step of her home in Cowan Heights drinking coffee on the morning of September 18, 2020, while Hopkins was pushing a cart full of recyclable materials down the street. Hopkins said good morning and then asked for a glass of water. She went in to get it, and when she returned, Hopkins was at the front door. He took a sip of water, forcibly entered her home, carried her upstairs, sexually assaulted her and her parents’ rooms, and beat her when she screamed.
Hopkins then threatened to burn down the house before fleeing.
“Since I accept her testimony without reservation, if no other evidence had been called, that alone would have been enough to convict Mr Hopkins,” Burridge wrote in his ruling.
But there was more evidence.
The court also heard three neighbors who said they saw the girl upset and crying in her driveway after the attack. One said he saw Hopkins leave the girl’s home.
Hopkins was arrested a few minutes later, on a street, and later police found Hopkins’ DNA on the teenager.
Charges dismissed
During the trial, Hopkins denied the allegations and rejected all evidence against him. He claims that the police confused their investigation, had the opportunity to falsify evidence and set it up.
He said it had nothing to do with the girls’ attack and said police officers who arrested him were prejudiced against him.
But in his ruling, Burridge said he found “no evidence of collusion, bias or other misconduct by the Royal Newfoundland Police” in the arrest and detention of Mr Hopkins and the investigation into the case. Similarly, I could not find anything to support Mr Hopkins’ allegation of falsifying evidence. ”
“I did not find Mr. Hopkins credible. He was a fighter with the Crown, sometimes refusing to answer and otherwise evading, Burridge wrote. “Apart from admitting that he was on Tanner Street in a trolley full of recyclable materials that morning, I do not believe a single word of Hopkins’ testimony.
Burridge pleaded guilty to Hopkins on all six charges – assault, assault and intrusion, forcible detention, assault, threats of property damage and probation.
Hopkins told the court that he was living in a shelter at the time and had just been released from prison for a previous conviction for sexual assault.
Apart from the confession that he was on Tanner Street in a cart full of recyclable materials that morning, I do not believe a word of Mr. Hopkins’ testimony. – Judge Donald Burridge
He has been on the sex offenders’ register for a decade after being convicted of assaulting two women on the Long Pond trail in St. John’s in 2019.
He was charged with assault and assault with a weapon in 2014, when a judge ruled he was acting in self-defense when he stabbed a man during a confrontation in the western part of the city a year earlier.
Standen advised the court that he wanted an assessment to see if Hopkins should be labeled a long-term offender.
He must return to court on June 24 to update the situation.
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