National Post (National Edition)
POLICE LAY MORE SEX ASSAULT CHARGES IN SCHOOL ABUSE CASE.
TORONTO • A seventh St. Michael’s College student is now charged, and four others face additional charges, as the Toronto police investigation into sex assault allegations at the storied private boys’ school appears at an end.
Police made the announcement Wednesday even as some of the seven boys, all Grade 9 or 10 students, were appearing in Ontario Court before Justice of the Peace Mary Ross Hendriks and others were on their way to court.
The seventh boy, like most of the others 15-years-old and with no criminal record, is accused only in relation to an incident on Oct. 17 at the school.
He is charged with sexual assault with a weapon, gang sexual assault and assault, as are four of the six boys originally charged last month with identical charges that date to a Nov. 7 incident.
That alleged incident, though it was the first to be disclosed to police and public, was in fact the second in a line of three.
The third incident — the first chronologically — occurred Sept. 18 and involves the alleged victim being hit on his bare behind with a broom.
The same four boys who are charged in the two more serious cases — where allegedly the victims were surrounded, stripped of their pants and then sexually assaulted with a broom — are also charged here with assault, meaning they are alleged to have participated in all three incidents.
Two boys are alleged to have taken part in only the Nov. 7 assault. Their lawyers made a routine appearance in court on their behalf Wednesday.
The names and identities of all are protected by mandatory publication bans under the Criminal Code and Youth Criminal Justice Act.
All incidents allegedly occurred in the school’s locker room, involved members of the school’s football team and all featured the use of a broom.
There are two alleged victims in the three incidents.
The school has expelled a total of eight students and suspended another but it’s unclear if all the expelled students are those accused.
Toronto police Insp. Domenic Sinopoli told reporters at a Wednesday briefing that the force has investigated a total of eight incidents that took place at St. Michael’s this fall and laid charges only in connection with the three.
“We do not have any evidence or complaints to suggest that this type of behaviour extended outside of this school year or involved anyone outside this small group of students,” Sinopoli said.
“Our research into these incidents and our past dealings with the college did not suggest any trend that would lead someone to believe that this is an ongoing and systemic problem,” he said.
A statement Wednesday from Fr. Andrew Leung, the school’s interim president, emphasized St. Mike’s institutional resolve “to understanding why this behaviour happened and what led to it, and to putting measures in place to ensure it does not happen again.”
Leung called it another “painful and heartbreaking day” in the school’s recent history, and said that with the police probe closed, St. Mike’s can now complete its own investigation “into student conduct.”
The scandal saw enormous media attention last month, and all but consumed the school in the process, with then-principal Greg Reeves holding almost daily meetings with the students the school had expelled or suspended and their parents, the student body and their families, alumni and staff, all the while fielding a barrage of reporters’ calls.
Reeves was criticized for not calling police as soon as he learned about the Nov. 7 incident — he believed he should first meet the boys alleged to have been involved and their parents and offer the alleged victim, and his parents, comfort.
Reeves maintained that he understood the criticism, but said that his first allegiance was to his students, and would react the same way again.
In the end, just a few days after the scandal broke in the news, Reeves and school president Jefferson Thompson resigned, believing St. Mike’s was being distracted by the controversy surrounding them.
The seven boys are due back in court on Jan. 28.