A Whitehorse man is standing trial before a judge and jury on a charge of sexual assault on a girl under 16 years of age.

Yun Huang, 24, is appearing this week before Deputy Justice Bonnie Tulloch. The trial began Monday morning with jury selection, with evidence being called in the afternoon.

The girl was the first witness called by the Crown. She said she first met Huang online through Whisper, a social media app. This platform is designed for people to contact each other but remain anonymous.

She said she knew Huang as Ivan on the social media platform.

She could not remember who first initiated contact. She did say the two messaged each other more than once and spoke about each other’s interests. She clarified that he allegedly asked more about her than he shared about himself.

“He just wanted to talk about me,” the girl said.

The two exchanged phone numbers and began texting. She alleges that the first text was sent sometime on Jan. 8, 2018, about a couple of weeks after they had met online. Huang told her his reason for coming to Whitehorse, she testified, but shared little about his previous life.

The complainant was adamant that she informed Huang of her age and school grade during their talks.

She said he never shared his age. She estimated he had to be at least 18 since he was in college and looked young.

The two agreed to meet in person shortly after the texting began.

She testified that she arranged to have Huang pick her up outside her neighbourhood in his car. She explained she did not want him to know exactly where she lived.

She said they went to Grey Mountain and just talked about various things. She told the court that nothing sexual happened during this outing, but did say he did get close to her, which made her uncomfortable.

She said he dropped her off at the same place he’d picked her up at the end of the outing.

Crown prosecutor Amy Porteous asked how the complainant saw Huang in her life. The girl said she viewed him as a friend.

On Jan. 9, 2018, they decided to meet to do a face mask – a cream that’s applied to someone’s face to soften and brighten skin.

The girl arranged to have Huang pick her up, again outside of her neighbourhood, and he drove them to his residence.

They waited in his vehicle for a period. She alleges that he told her that other people lived in the residence, and he was unsure if they were home.

She said they did the face masks but alleges that Huang insisted that he apply the cream to her face. With both sitting on his bed, she told the court, she applied the mask to his face.

After 15 to 20 minutes, they washed the masks off in the bathroom and returned to his bedroom.

She alleges that at this point, he began to act “weird.” She testified Huang used force to get her to lay down on his bed, after she’d told him she did not want to.

She alleged he kept trying to touch her, and she repeatedly removed his hands from her body more than 10 times. She added Huang touched her both over and under her clothes.

She alleged that he climbed onto her, and she could not get him off of her. She told him to stop but he did not, she told the court. She explained she did not scream nor yell, but did raise her voice.

“At first, I said it (to stop) in my regular voice, and after I got frustrated and I said it a little bit louder,” the complainant told the court.

She next alleged that he removed some of her clothes. She said she had done nothing to indicate to Huang that she was consenting to any activity of a sexual nature.

She explained that since she could not get away from him, she demanded that he use a condom, to which he complied.

Porteous asked why she made that demand. The girl said she did not want to contract a sexually-transmitted disease. Since she could not fight him off, she said, she wanted to be protected.

Once the alleged sexual assault was over, she said she told Huang she wanted to go home. She explained she could hear other people in the residence, but that Huang told her to be quiet.

She said he agreed to drive her home, and he dropped her off at the same location from where he’d picked her up. She said she was uncomfortable during the ride home.

She said she sent Huang a text message after she got home, asking him for his age.

When he told her he was 22, she said, she told him they could not have sex because she was under the age of consent.

She told the court he said he was sorry, but added they could still go for a ride.

Porteous asked what the girl had thought was supposed to happen that night. The complainant said she’d believed she would be spending time with a friend and doing face masks.

“I thought it would be a girl’s night with a guy,” she said.

She contacted the RCMP on Jan. 25, 2018.

Huang’s lawyer, Andre Roothman, proceeded with his cross-examination of the complainant on Tuesday, and the next Crown witness was set to testify this morning.

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