Driving instructor who kissed, groped student guilty of sexual assault

“I am satisfied that, at all material times, the accused was the aggressor,” judge said

Warning: sexual content A Saskatoon driving instructor who groped and “French kissed” a 15-year-old student during a drive violated the girl’s sexual integrity and is therefore guilty of sexual assault, a provincial court judge has ruled.

Judge Brent Klause said he believes the girl’s testimony that Cory Seldon Klassen tried to kiss her and grab her breasts while they were stopped near “Bare Bum Beach” on Dec. 21, 2013.

Klassen, 47, was convicted in December following a trial in Saskatoon. His sentencing hearing has been adjourned until May.

During the trial, the girl testified that Klassen unzipped his pants, showed her his penis and asked her to touch it. She said she “pushed back, resisted and told the accused not to continue,” according to the judge’s written decision.

Klause noted that some details of the girl’s story — the kiss and the unzipping of the pants — align with the testimony of Klassen’s wife and father-in-law.

However, on the stand, Klassen denied telling either of them about a zipper. He also said the girl initiated the kiss by asking him to smell her perfume and pulling his head into her breasts when he did. Don Wendels, Klassen’s father-in-law, said Klassen told him that, as well.

If the girl was the initiator, Klause questioned why Klassen wouldn’t have stopped, driven back to Saskatoon, and told his employer.

“I am satisfied that, at all material times, the accused was the aggressor and initiated the physical interaction. Where his evidence differs from that of the complainant, I accept the evidence of the complainant without reservation,” he wrote, adding the girl never tried to exaggerate what happened.

Wendels said he believed this wasn’t the first incident between Klassen and a student. Both Wendels and Klassen’s wife testified that Klassen told them he had turned down similar opportunities with young girls in the past.

The conversation between the accused and his wife took place at a church service about a month later, when Klassen revealed he was being investigated for sexual interference involving one of his students.

Court heard that Klassen was fired two days later. He then sought refuge with his father-in-law in an attempt to save his marriage.

“He volunteered to amputate his own penis if his wife would take him back and he volunteered to appear in front of the entire church and confess his sins,” Klause wrote, summarizing Wendels’s testimony.

He volunteered to amputate his own penis if his wife would take him back and he volunteered to appear in front of the entire church and confess his sins.