The Calgary woman who accused Coun. Sean Chu of sexually assaulting her has been ordered to stand trial on six charges, including threatening to burn former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis’ belongings. The Calgary Herald reported Wednesday Calgary Court of Justice Justice Catherine Skene agreed with Crown attorney Brian Holtby there was enough evidence to have Chu’s accuser be tried in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. While Holtby wanted the committal order, the accuser’s lawyers Ian McKay and Heather Ferg did not dispute the low bar for it. A committal order comes from a finding there is some evidence a jury could return a guilty verdict. After hearing evidence in the Calgary Court of Justice over one-and-a-half days, Skene made her decision. She instated a publication ban on Tuesday to prevent testimony provided by the witnesses from being released. While the accuser was being tried in the Calgary Court of Justice, her case will return to the Court of King’s Bench on November 8, where a trial date will be scheduled. The accuser had been arrested by the RCMP and charged with various weapons and extortion charges in 2023..EXCLUSIVE: Chu's accuser facing numerous weapons, extortion charges.RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said it received a report of a person attempting to extort money from a victim and threatened to release a reportedly fake video in 2022. After a lengthy investigation, RCMP with the assistance of the Calgary Police Service executed a search warrant at a property. The initial charges the accuser faced included extortion against an unnamed person and threatening to burn property belonging to Denis. On a later date, she was charged with one count of possession of a prohibited firearm, one count of unauthorized possession of a firearm, and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.When the search warrant was executed, RCMP said it seized several items. Some of these items were a prohibited handgun stored with prohibited loaded magazines, ammunition, computers, cellphones, and tablets. At the moment, the accuser remains out on bail, but she cannot contact Denis or his mother Marguerite by any means except in court or through lawyers. She cannot go within 100 metres of any known residence, workplace, educational institution, or place of worship of Jonathan and Marguerite. Chu said in 2021 he had no intention of resigning amid the sexual assault allegations emerging, but he apologized to the woman he had the sexual encounter with 24 years prior..EXCLUSIVE: Chu vows not to resign, apologizes and speaks out on allegations.“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean any harm,” said Chu. City of Calgary officials confirmed he won the election race in Ward 4 by 52 votes after allegations surfaced one week before about the incident with the accuser, who was 16 years old at the time. Denis and Chu declined to comment.
