B.C. man who got $8M says he’ll be penniless if made to pay sex assault damages

VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man who was awarded $8 million after being wrongfully convicted of sexual assault and spending 27 years in prison says he’ll be left “homeless and penniless” if forced to pay civil damages to victims who won a lawsuit against him.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled this week that five women who were awarded $375,000 each in January against Ivan Henry can’t go after his home or vehicles pending his appeal, but ordered him to pay $232,000 into a trust account.

“The value of the (January) judgment exceeds my net worth,” Henry said in an affidavit. “I would be homeless and have no means to support myself.”

Henry was convicted of 10 counts of sexual assault in 1983, but was released after an appeal determined he was wrongfully convicted and he was acquitted in 2010.

The appeal ruling says Henry was awarded more than $8 million in 2018 for breaches of his Charter rights after suing the province and others for wrongful conviction, but five women sued him in 2017, alleging he sexually assaulted them in their Vancouver homes in the early 1980s.

The B.C. Supreme Court sided with the women in the civil case but the appeal ruling says Henry has not taken any steps to pay them and both he and the plaintiffs have filed appeals.

The five women are appealing the court’s refusal to award punitive damages in the case of $1 million each.

This week’s ruling says Henry applied to “stay execution” of the damages award and he told the court he spent millions defending the lawsuit, gave away more than $2 million, and now lives in a mortgage-free home on a monthly stipend from old-age security and the Canada Pension Plan.

Henry filed an affidavit in the Court of Appeal this month that outlines his current living situation, his finances and the history of the case.

It says he has had “significant health issues” since his release from prison, undergoing quintuple bypass heart surgery in 2016.

Henry, now 78, said he lives alone at his home in Hope, B.C., with an assessed value of $650,000, and he owns two vehicles worth a combined $40,000.

Henry said his Charter damages were paid out in instalments.

He said he “gifted” more than $2 million to family members and a former partner, and also made donations.

“These gifts were unconditional gifts with no expectation of repayment,” said Henry, who estimated his annual living expenses at around $40,000.

He said the rest of the money went toward living expense and legal expenses fighting the civil lawsuit.

Henry said he continues to have “anxiety and other long-term effects” from his time behind bars, and asked the court to allow him to remain in his home until the appeal is decided.

“My home provides me with a consistent and secure environment that supports my ability to manage these challenges. It is a place where I feel safe and can maintain a routine.”

The Court of Appeal found discrepancies in Henry’s claims, finding his evidence leaves $1.8 million “unaccounted for,” while he couldn’t explain where “large sums” flowing in and out of his account went between 2018 and 2023.

The ruling says Henry’s affidavit is “not consistent” with what he said in an examination by the plaintiffs a week before he filed the document.

He had said on May 5 that he gave away an estimated $3 million by 2017. He also said he had about $2 million and a house in 2024, but lost millions defending the civil action.

Justice Nitya Iyer found that it is possible Henry doesn’t have the money to pay the award and may lose his home, but “inconsistencies” in his affidavit and the examination “raise real questions about whether Mr. Henry has access to more funds than he claims.”

The ruling says the appeal will likely be heard this fall, with a decision in the spring of 2026.

Lawyers for Henry and the complainants did not immediately respond to a requests for comment.

The women who sued Henry described sexual assaults in their ground-floor or basement suites between May 1981 and June 1982.

The judge in January’s civil ruling found Henry liable, saying “it is more likely than not that he was their attacker and performed the sexual assaults … on a balance of probabilities.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press