Independent MP Kevin Vuong says he wants to set the record straight about a "false sexual assault allegation" that derailed his campaign with the Liberals during the 2021 Canadian election. .“Just days prior to the Sept. 20, 2021 federal election, my name was dragged through the mud and the media based on an unsubstantiated claim of sexual assault that allegedly occurred on the night of April 7, 2019,” said Vuong in an interview. .“Both my character and my name have been severely damaged — perhaps irreversibly.” .Vuong was dropped as the Liberal candidate for Spadina-Fort York in 2021 following an investigation into a past sexual assault allegation. .Since it was too late to remove him from the ballot, the Liberals said “should he be elected, he will not be a member of the Liberal caucus.”.He ended up winning Spadina-Fort York and he's sat as an Independent MP. .Vuong began a relationship with the complainant in 2018, and they ended it in 2019. After a chance meeting soon after the breakup and a few weeks of texting, they agreed to meet. .He said he was invited to her place one day. The complainant woke up in the early hours of the morning and said she had to leave because a friend needed help. .He asked if the complainant needed help, and she said no. He asked if he could stay until the morning, and she agreed to allow him, Vuong said..Vuong was woken up by a woman who he had never met, demanding he leave the apartment. He said he was left perplexed, wondering who she was and how she entered the building. .It being the early morning, he went back to his apartment. A few hours later, he received two voicemails from Toronto police, stating he was being accused of sexual assault. .He said he was shocked and confused about being accused of sexual assault. Not having dealt with the justice system before, he obtained a lawyer, Vuong said..His lawyer spoke with Toronto police and arranged for him to go to the station. When he appeared at the station, he was informed he would be charged with sexual assault. .The person confirming the complainant’s allegation was the women who asked him to leave the apartment. He said he was “denied due process and was charged based upon an allegation without an investigation.” .Vuong had to deal with a criminal charge for seven months before a hearing. He described this experience as “pure agony having to live my life under such a cloud.”.The hearing where the charge was withdrawn took place in November 2019, around the time of the Me Too Movement, when sexual assault was becoming less of a taboo topic. The female Crown attorney, in front of a female judge, requested the charge be withdrawn, court transcripts show..“If I can indicate, I met with the complainant in this matter for some time, and the officer in charge, there’s a number of personal issues happening right now,” said Crown attorney Louise Collins. .“I have reviewed this case again and decided that it would not be in the public interest to proceed any further, and I am asking that this charge be noted withdrawn.” .The court withdrew the charge at Collins’s request. While he was elated to have the charge withdrawn, Vuong said he felt it should never have been laid. . Court TranscriptA court transcript indicating the sexual assault charge against Kevin Vuong has been withdrawn. .Vuong was acclaimed as a Liberal candidate in 2021. A police record submitted to the party did not indicate the existence of any charge against him. .The MP said he did not feel he had to disclose the charge because it was withdrawn. He said he was shocked when the charge was brought up towards the end of the election campaign. . Police checkA police check showing Kevin Vuong did not have a criminal history. .Almost every day since winning the election, he has received racist and disgusting comments. He has been labelled a rapist on social media platforms. .Vuong called due process “a fundamental element of the system and a basic tenant of the rule of law.”.Regardless of what happens to him in the future, he said he is no longer going to take the abuse and smearing. .“I will confront my adversaries, fight to protect my name, and continue to stand up for justice and due process — so that no one should have to go through what I have had to endure,” he said.
