Ex-king's prof pleads not guilty to latest charges
A former professor at the University of King's College in Halifax has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges involving two young men.
Wayne John Hankey, 76, of Halifax faces two counts each of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.
Police allege Hankey abused one of the complainants between May 1977 and December 1979 and the other in September 1982.
The offences were allegedly committed on the King's campus and at a home in Halifax and were reported to police earlier this year.
Investigators laid charges of sexual assault and indecent assault in April and amended the allegations before Hankey's arraignment in June.
Defence lawyer Stan Macdonald entered the not-guilty pleas on behalf of Hankey during a video appearance in Halifax provincial court Friday.
Counsel will return to court Aug. 17 to set dates for the trial, which is expected to sit for at least four days.
In February, Halifax Regional Police announced Hankey had been charged with sexually assaulting a young man in a student residence at King's in March 1988. Police said that complainant reported the incident to them last September.
Hankey pleaded not guilty to that charge in provincial court in March and will stand trial in March 2022.
The identities of all three complainants are protected by publication bans.
Hankey, a former Anglican priest, retired from King's in 2015 but continued to lecture at neighbouring Dalhousie University until the criminal charges were laid.
King's and the Anglican Church disciplined Hankey in 1991 after a former student complained he had been sexually abused while attending the university. An ecclesiastical court convicted him of immorality and decided to deprive him of his office.
Two Toronto lawyers have been hired by King's to conduct an independent review into the allegations against Hankey and make recommendations on how the school should respond.
Hankey is subject to release conditions from two undertakings to police that he signed in January and April. He had to deposit his passport with police, must remain in Nova Scotia, and is banned from having contact with the three alleged victims and one other potential Crown witness, a woman.
He also agreed to stay away from any school, education centre, college, university or church where anyone under the age of 25 is likely to be present.