WARNING: This article contains details about a criminal sexual assault trial and may be disturbing to some readers. If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual violence, contact the 24-hour Sexual Assault Support Crisis line at
By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative/Penticton Herald
A First Nations healer accused of sexually assaulting several women during native healing sessions two years ago in Penticton was found not guilty of three counts of sexual assault, but guilty of one count of common assault in the early morning hours at the Penticton Courthouse Friday.
Donald Wayne Ashley was originally charged with six counts of sexual assault on allegations that he inappropriately touched six complainants during different native healing sessions over a four-day period in the middle of October 2022.
Ashley, who spent much of his life in the Williams Lake area, now resides in Kamloops, the court heard.
One of the charges was stayed early in the trial and two more charges were withdrawn after a directive verdict last week by Justice Michael Brundrett after defence counsel Michael Norha and Crown Attorney Andrew Vandersluys agreed there was not sufficient evidence for a jury to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on those two counts.
The trial proceeded with Ashley facing three counts of sexual assault.
At the beginning of the trial, Brundrett ordered a publication ban on any evidence that could help identify any of the complainants in this case.
The seven-man, five-woman jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon around 4 p.m. and continued to deliberate until 10 p.m. before deciding to call it a night.
Deliberations continued early Thursday morning and continued all day and well into the evening. Just when it appeared deliberations would continue into a third day, it was announced a verdict had been reached just past midnight.
It took until 12:45 a.m. Friday for the jury to read its verdict. They found Ashley not guilty on one count of sexual assault, but guilty of common assault in relation to the first woman to testify at this trial. They found Ashley not guilty on two more counts of sexual assault on two other women.
All five women on the jury were crying, as did one of the male jurors, after the verdict was read into the record and Brundrett thanked them for their service during this difficult and lengthy trial that lasted two days short of one month.
Amongst a crowd of 15 female supporters in court to hear the verdict, several who had attended the trial on a daily basis over the past four weeks, many of them broke into tears and hugged each other after the verdict was read.
Ashley鈥檚 wife sat alone away from the supporters.
Ashley didn鈥檛 appear to show any emotion when the verdicts were read.
The trial heard Ashley was a popular First Nations healer who had been invited to Penticton to perform healing sessions starting back in 2010.
There had been no complaints about his work until October of 2022 when several women complained about inappropriate touching without their consent during sessions over a four-day period.
Five complainants who gave evidence at trial all testified they had booked Ashley to perform native healing sessions on them in October of 2022. Most of them had received previous healing sessions with him and hadn鈥檛 experience anything unusual and testified the sessions had been beneficial.
But that all changed in October of 2022 when the complainants said Ashley touched them inappropriately during the healing sessions.
Each session started off with chatting to Ashley about what was going on in their lives and eventually involved traditional healing sessions involving eagle feathers, rattles and occasionally Ashley touching them using finger pressure techniques to try and eliminate or reduce negative energy from their bodies.
Each of the complainants testified that during the sessions, Ashley became more aggressive and touched them inappropriately without their consent.
During his testimony, Ashley said he never touched any of the complainants in a sexual manner over the entire four-day period.
Ashley used the phrase 鈥渁bsolutely not鈥� at least 40 times during his direct evidence and during cross-examination when asked if he engaged in any inappropriate behaviour during those four days.
Before releasing the jury, Brundrett thanked them for their dedication over what was a very lengthy and difficult trial.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a very long day,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 assure you that you have contributed greatly to the administration of justice with care and attention.鈥�
He told the jurors that they are not to discuss what happened during jury deliberations with anyone, even now that the trial is over.
Norha suggested a sentencing date be set on Nov. 25, which Brundrett and Vandersluys agreed to.
About 15 minutes after the jury was dismissed, the group of female supporters were gathered outside the Penticton Courthouse, many of them crying and hugging each other, when Ashley and his wife walked out of the front doors of the courthouse.
Several of the women jeered him and yelled insults, but Ashley just walked forward and didn鈥檛 respond.
One First Nations elder who attended every single day of the month-long trial, walked closed to Ashley and his wife and calmly told them 鈥測ou know what to do. You both know what to do.鈥�
