Andy Ivens
Staff Reporter

p. A27.

Teen says choice was sex or death

Accused stun gun delivered 75,000 volts, says cop

A teenager told a B.C. Supreme Court jury last week that she was 12 years old when Frank Kim took her to the bedroom of his Richmond home and forced sex on her under threat of death.

The girl, who is 13 and cannot be named, said she at first refused Kim's suggestion because he wanted to videotape them having sex.

But he told her he could easily take a handgun out of his safe and "you'd be gone in a second," she testified.

"I just went along with whatever he said."

Kim, 25, is facing 31 charges, all but six of which allege sexual misconduct with girls under 18.

He is conducting his own defence and has been allowed to cross-examine all his alleged victims except the latest witness.

By law, a complainant cannot be cross-examined by the accused if she is under 14 at the time of the alleged offence, but must be questioned by a lawyer.

Defence lawyer Jeffrey Ray asked the 13-year-old witness why the story she told police when she was first questioned — the day Kim was arrested, Jan. 2, 1998 — differed from a later version, which led to the charges being laid.

"I was scared," responded the girl.

"Of whom?" asked Ray.

"Of Frank," she replied.

"Isn't it true that an officer told you, you could get back at Mr. Kim by saying he knew your true age?" asked the lawyer.

"He did [know my age]," she insisted.

The jury has already seen videotapes that the Crown alleges Kim made to show himself having intercourse with some of the nine teenage complainants, most of whom worked in the child sex trade.

Vancouver police Const. Al Arsenault, an expert on non-firearm weaponry, testified that the stun gun Kim allegedly used on his young victims discharged 75,000 volts.

The last three complainants in the trial, which began April 12 before Justice Janice Dillon are scheduled to testify this week.