Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Retired navy commander faces 11 sex offence charges at trial

A retired navy commander and former leader of the Chinese community is going to trial in April to face 11 sexual offence charges involving 10 victims. Kit Wong, 72, was arrested on Aug.
Photo - scales of justice - courts

A retired navy commander and former leader of the Chinese community is going to trial in April to face 11 sexual offence charges involving 10 victims.

Kit Wong, 72, was arrested on Aug. 14, 2018, and charged with four counts of sexual assault in connection with offences that allegedly occurred in 2005 and 2006 in his home-based business, where he practised acupuncture, massage therapy and traditional Chinese medicine.

At the time of his arrest, Victoria police investigators believed there could be more victims and made a public appeal for them to come forward.

Wong is charged with 10 counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The case is set for trial starting April 6.

The offences are alleged to have occurred in 2008, 2010, 2014 and Aug. 3, 2018, a few days before his arrest.

Wong is a retired navy lieutenant commander with the Royal Canadian Navy, based at CFB Esquimalt. Many of his clients were military members, police said.

Wong previously ran the Shang Wu Kung Fu and Tai Chi Club on Fisgard Street in Chinatown. He is a former president of the Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association of Victoria. After retiring from the navy, he continued to teach CFB Esquimalt employees kung fu and tai chi in a warehouse in Work Point’s transportation compound.

Wong was disciplined in 2011 and 2014 by the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of B.C. after he was accused of touching patients in a sexual manner, but Victoria police were not informed.

At a hearing in January, Wong was released on $5,000 bail and ordered to have no contact or communication with nine alleged victims or be within 100 metres of their homes, schools or workplaces.

He is not allowed to practise traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture or massage therapy or any service that involves touching any female apart from members of his immediate family.

Wong must inform his bail supervisor within two days of any change in his employment or relationship status.

ldickson@timescolonist.com