Cairns denies sexual assault allegations
A Niagara businessman on trial for sex offences involving teenage boys took the stand in his own defence Tuesday and adamantly denied the accusations, insisting he was like a father to the trio who now accuse him of molestation.
“It never happened,” 63-yearold Jeffrey Cairns said repeatedly, each time his lawyer asked about individual claims made by the three young men.
Cairns has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges including sexual assault and sexual interference before a jury of seven men and five women in Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines.
One complainant, now 23, testified to nine incidents of sexual assault which occurred between March 2010 and 2011 when he was 14.
He told the jury he would engage in mutual masturbation and mutual oral sex with the older man.
The complainant’s brother, now 25, testified Cairns cupped or grabbed his testicles at least five times when he was younger. He told court he would make a loud noise and “shoot his hips back and away from him.”
Soon after, the Crown alleges, Cairns began to molest the younger brother.
Assistant Crown attorney Robert Mahler suggested Cairns was “grooming” the child and then turned his attention to the younger sibling when the brother rebuffed his advances.
“You decided to turn your sexual desires to someone else,” Mahler said.
“That is not true,” the married father of two replied.
In his opening address to the jury, defence lawyer Jonathan Shime said his client should be acquitted of all charges against him.
“He is innocent of these charges.”
Shime explained to the jury that an accused person has the right to not take the stand and testify, but Cairns wanted to “tell you the true story of what happened and didn’t happen.”
Cairns testified he and his wife first met the complainants’ parents when the four of them were in a postnatal class at a St. Catharines hospital.
“We were like-minded,” he said. “There was enough in common that we started a friendship.”
He said the brothers were like sons to him. Both boys would call him “Jeffy.”
“There’d be slips of the tongue, when they were speaking to me, they would call me dad,” he added.
He said the younger brother was “extraordinarily inquisitive” and would often ask him about his sex life as well as the sex life of his parents.
“He wanted details. I provided none.”
Cairns admitted he engaged in an inappropriate Facebook Messenger conversation with the then-15-year-old complainant.
In the conversation, Cairns discussed what sexual positions his wife enjoyed.
He said the impersonal nature of Facebook led him to engage in “locker-room” talk with the teen.
“You lose that sense of boundary,” he explained.
“I’m embarrassed, I’m humiliated. I truly regret it. It was disrespectful to my wife.”
He called the conversation an “anomaly” and “unprecedented on my part.”
Cairns also described an incident when he happened upon the complainant’s older brother. He said he entered the brothers’ home and came across the teen wearing a bathrobe and masturbating.
“He was exposed by his own volition,” Cairns said.
“It was awkward and embarrassing for both of us. I sort of admonished him.
“I told him he should be doing this in his own room, not out in the open.”
As the conversation continued, he said, the teen’s bathrobe fell open and Cairns noticed the young man did not have any pubic hair.
“There was no modesty there. You got the full frontal nude thing happening.”
Cairns also dismissed the testimony of a third man, now 19, who claimed he was molested for years.
“Everyone found him a little challenging,” he said, adding “no one ever knew if he was telling the truth or lying or trying to manipulate you.”
Cairns said he had a “strained” relationship with the 19-yearold’s father, which he attributed to the fact the man was unemployed at times, and he criticized his mother for not disciplining the boy.
He told court he is now retired as president of Charlesway Corp. Ltd., the Niagara-based private equity investment firm founded by his father, well-known lawyer Roy Cairns.
“It became impossible to carry on with business with these allegations against me,” he said, adding the family moved from Niagara and now makes their home in Toronto.
The Cairns family is prominent in St. Catharines and known for their philanthropic endeavours.
They have made significant contributions to Niagara organizations over the years.
Cairns said his father, who died in 2011, donated $8 million to Brock University.
Jeffrey Cairns was a member of Brock University’s board of trustees.
He was also the former commanding officer of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment and a volunteer with Scouts Canada.
The trial continues today before Judge Paul Sweeny.