Teacher pleads guilty to sex crime

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This article was published 12/12/2012 (4942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A teacher who had an illicit “romantic” relationship with a former student has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation.

The affair was discovered when the teacher’s husband walked in on her in bed with her former pupil.

“(She) was in bed, under the covers facing the door with … shock on her face,” Crown attorney Marycia Kruk told court.

The woman can’t be named due to a publication ban that protects the identity of the victim. Naming her may identify him.

For the same reason, the Brandon Sun isn’t naming the small Westman community where the offence was committed.

In provincial court on Tuesday, the woman pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation.

Defence lawyer Josh Weinstein explained that his client had been a resource teacher and respite worker to the teen at one point.

However, she was not the victim’s teacher or worker at the time of the offence which happened on Aug. 27, 2011.

Nevertheless, the relationship had evolved from one of teacher and student into a “romantic” relationship, as the boy put it. So, effectively she’d held a position of trust over him.

It was on that basis that she pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation charge for attempting to have sexual intercourse with the teen.

She was 38 years old at the time while the victim was 17 years old.

Kruk described the moment the affair was discovered — just as the woman and teen were attempting to have sex.

On the evening of Aug. 27, 2011, the teen was staying over at the woman’s home, and he and her family had watched a movie in the common area.

Once the movie was over, the woman and teen went to the third floor of the home to talk while the woman’s husband went to bed.

Around 3 a.m., the husband decided to sneak upstairs to find out what was going on.

The husband slowly climbed the stairs, but the top step creaked and alerted the teenage guest to his approach.

“Someone’s coming!” the teen said and the husband rushed into the room to see his wife in bed with the boy.

His wife, who was under the covers, had a look of shock on her face. The teen, his shirt off, had pulled the covers over his face and turned away from the husband.

The boy later told police that he and his former teacher were in a “romantic” relationship that had evolved out of the former teacher and student relationship.

They were trying to have sex when the husband burst in on them, although intercourse didn’t happen.

While no longer the teen’s teacher, the woman was a teacher at the time and had been working at a Westman high school.

When news of her arrest broke shortly after the incident, police reported that she was no longer working in the school system.

She was released on conditions not to have contact or communication with the teen, but in court on Tuesday she admitted to being caught with the boy on March 28 of this year. Police had pulled over a vehicle in the RM of Headingley and found the woman and teen together inside.

While pleas have been entered, sentencing won’t happen until sometime in the new year.

Judge John Combs ordered a pre-sentence report and the matter was adjourned to February, although no sentencing date was set.

Combs noted that the sexual exploitation charge carries an automatic jail term.

While the woman’s pleas were entered as part of a plea bargain, Weinstein said he and Kruk differ on the jail sentence they’ll seek.

Weinstein indicated that he’ll ask for four months jail to be imposed, while the Crown will ask for six months.

Following court, Weinstein confirmed that his client isn’t currently teaching, and Kruk said the victim has since moved out of the area.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com