Grandmother found not guilty of sexual abuse

A rural Westman woman accused of sexually abusing her two young grandchildren was convicted Thursday of a single count of assault, but was found not guilty of the sex charges.

“I cannot conclude that a reasonable observer would find the sexual nature of the touching apparent,” Justice Sandra Zinchuk said in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench.

“However, even if the nature of the touching was not sexual, the accused did not ask (the victim’s) consent prior to the touching.”

The woman, 51, stood trial in March on two counts of sexual assault after it was alleged that she sexually abused her grandchildren, who are now eight and 11 years old.

A publication ban protecting the children’s identities prevents the Sun from naming the accused.

Zinchuk outlined key points from the two-day trial in her oral decision.

The grandmother moved to a southwestern community in August 2019, and the two children began visiting her at her home shortly after. The children last visited her home in December 2021.

The girl, who is the younger of the two siblings, testified during trial that her grandmother “touched her in the front and the back” with her hand while they were on the bed watching TV, Zinchuk said.

“She testified that it was where the pee and poo came out,” Zinchuk said. “(She) didn’t know how many times this happened, but it was more than one time.”

The girl said she couldn’t remember how long the touching went on and didn’t know how it made her feel.

Parts of a recorded interview between the boy and a child advocate at the Toba Centre for Children and Youth in Winnipeg were played in court during the trial.

He alleged his grandmother put her hand down his pants, touched his buttocks and smelled her hand afterward.

“Her hand was rubbing him, and it made his butt feel weird,” Zinchuk said. “After smelling her hand, the accused would call him stinky.”

He also alleged the touching happened while he was on the bed in the accused’s bedroom watching TV.

He alleged it happened all the times he was at the accused’s home and always when they were in the bedroom. He recalled one instance where he and his sister were in the bedroom with the accused, and she put her hand down his pants before putting her hand down his sister’s.

The children’s mother, who is also the accused’s daughter, testified during trial and said her relationship with her mother was on and off.

She said in January 2023, the boy “blurted out” at dinner one evening that his grandmother had put her hand down his sister’s pants, prompting her to contact the RCMP and Child and Family Services.

When she asked her son if anything had happened to him, he said the accused put her hand down his pants too, she testified.

The accused denied touching either of the children’s buttocks or genitals.

Zinchuk said she found that the accused tried to answer questions in ways that would “minimize or preclude any opportunity to commit the offences alleged.”

She specifically referenced the woman’s testimony that she didn’t watch TV in the bedroom with the children very often since they were always busy.

The accused later acknowledged that she touched her granddaughter’s butt when she went to the bathroom and would have touched her body and genitals when she changed her diaper.

Zinchuk said the two issues in the case were whether the accused touched her grandchildren as alleged and, if so, whether that touching was sexual in nature.

Zinchuk said the boy’s evidence was mostly consistent, but she had greater concerns with the girl’s evidence, as there were several inconsistencies between her statement in 2023 and her testimony.

Additionally, she said the girl did not come forward on her own.

“Given the tentative nature of much of her evidence, the change in narrative between her interview and trial, her young age at the time of the alleged events and the prompted disclosure by (her brother), I have serious concerns about the reliability of her evidence,” she said.

Zinchuk said she accepted the girl’s evidence that the accused touched her buttocks, but didn’t accept that she touched her vagina. Given the boy’s evidence, she said that although unusual, the accused could have been checking the girl’s diaper or hygiene.

“I cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused touched (her) within the circumstances of a sexual nature.”

Regarding the boy, the judge said there was no suggestion of secrecy or other forms of touching. She described the touching as “unacceptable” but said she couldn’t conclude it was sexual in nature.

However, she said the accused did not get consent to touch the boy.

“(He) was a school-aged child between the ages of five and seven years, and the accused should have asked for his consent. The accused either knew that (he) did not consent or knew there was a risk that he did not consent, but proceeded to touch him anyway.”

She found the accused not guilty of sexual assault against the boy and girl but instead guilty of assault against the boy.

The matter will appear again in court on June 8.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com