Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault and child abuse
A former support worker at two West Shore youth homes was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old who was in the care of one of the homes in 2022.
Matthew Porcher, a former resident support worker with Colwood-based IDM Youth Services Inc., was found guilty of one count each of touching for a sexual purpose of a person under 16 and sexual assault on Nov. 21.
At two Greater Victoria homes operated by IDM 鈥� Metchosin House and IDM House 鈥� Porcher made meals, woke up youth and encouraged them to go to school, took them to appointments, addressed emerging problems and put them to bed during his employment between September 2021 and April 2022.
The complainant, a 14-year-old boy whose name is protected by a publication ban, stayed at Metchosin House during that period.
"While he worked at Metchosin House, [Porcher] worked closely with the complainant. [Porcher] was younger than most of the staff and therefore closer in age to the complainant. They would play video games together. [Porcher] shared with the complainant his goal of being a police officer and the complainant expressed his desire to do that as well," noted the decision from Justice Gareth Morley.
At one point, Porcher started giving the teen back massages following an altercation where the youth was thrown against a door by another staff member.
"The back massages must have been extremely common when the accused was on shift at Metchosin House for a period of months. [Porcher] knew these back massages were against IDM policy. He hid them from other staff members, except perhaps those he believed to be sympathetic to him," noted the decision.
The two's relationship involved other policy breaches. The judge noted that he frequently stayed later than he was supposed to, which prompted two warnings from his employer. They also regularly talked on social media and through their private phone numbers, which is also against policy.
On at least two occasions, Porcher was "roughhousing" with the youth while the teen had his shirt off. One staff member became concerned that Porcher's relationship with the teen "was unprofessional and lacked boundaries" and she reported her concerns to her supervisor.
By April 2022, IDM was concerned about the relationship between the two and told Porcher to take a three-to-six-month break from working with the teen. He was given two hours with the teen on April 24, 2022, to explain the separation.
That evening, Porcher played video games with the youth, and decided to stay past the allotted two hours. He put the teen to bed around 2 a.m. and proceeded to give him a back massage.
"The complainant鈥檚 evidence is that when the accused thought the complainant was asleep, he touched the complainant鈥檚 testicles, penis and buttocks. The complainant says that after enduring this out of fear for what he estimates to be 20 minutes, he pretended to wake up again. [Porcher}, according to the complainant鈥檚 evidence, tried to get him to go back to sleep, but he would not," noted the decision.
The next day, another employee saw the teen sleeping on the couch, and according to an incident report filed by the employee, he confided in her that a staff member "touched him inappropriately."
On April 26, Porcher checked the teen's file, where he saw the incident report.
Over the day, Porcher sent a "barrage" of phone calls and "manipulative" texts to the teen, saying things like "I鈥檓 so sorry. This hurts me so bad. I鈥檓 sorry it hurt you. I can鈥檛 go home without seeing you first. You know I care about you a lot. Please just come and chat with me."
In the evening, the teen called the RCMP, who eventually began an investigation against Porcher.
During testimony, Porcher denied touching the teen inappropriately, but he did admit to giving him back massages. However, Morley called Porcher a "practiced liar and manipulator."
"I therefore cannot give his testimony denying the alleged assault any weight at all. I not only do not believe it, I know not to believe it, and I reject it as not capable of giving rise to a reasonable doubt," he noted.
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