Retired King’s prof faces third trial in December 2022
A third trial has been scheduled in Halifax provincial court late next year for a retired University of King’s College classic professor who faces historical sex-related charges involving young men.
Wayne John Hankey, 77, of Halifax is accused of sexually abusing three students in the 1970s and 1980s.
Paul Niefer – an associate of Hankey’s lawyer, Stan Macdonald – appeared in court by phone Friday to set a date for a trial on charges of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency, from an incident in September 1982.
Judge Amy Sakalauskas booked the one-day trial for Dec. 19, 2022.
The complainant, who was 18 at the time, alleges he was in Hankey’s residence office for a tutoring session when the professor edged his seat closer to him and placed a hand on his leg such that the knuckles were inside his shorts.
Fearing Hankey was going to touch his genitals, he says he jumped up and left the office.
The charges were laid last April, when police also announced Hankey faces identical charges involving another man, who claims he was abused over a period of about two-and-a-half years between the summer of 1977 and December 1979.
Hankey originally was to stand trial on both sets of charges at the same time
– next June 6-10 – but Macdonald successfully argued recently that the cases share little in the way of similarities and should be heard separately.
Macdonald also said the two matters will be defended differently. He said the defence to the 1982 allegation will probably be denial, while consent may be argued on the other charges.
The other complainant alleges Hankey began molesting him the summer before his freshman year at King’s. Hankey had access to the pool on the Halifax campus and invited the 18-year-old to swim with him after hours.
The professor and the young man would regularly shower together after swimming. They would engage in horseplay that did not involve physical contact, and Hankey would turn the lights off and on. On one occasion, Hankey allegedly touched the teen’s genitals.
After that incident, the pair swam together on other occasions and allegedly engaged in further sexual activity in the shower. The sexual activity allegedly continued for approximately once or twice a week for the 1977-78 academic year and resumed in 1979 after Hankey returned to Halifax from a year abroad.
Hankey has another trial set for March 3 on a charge of sexually assaulting a young man in a student residence on the Halifax campus in March 1988.
That complainant, who was 23 at the time, says he was lying on his bed when Hankey came into his room and jumped on him, straddling him while he grabbed his buttocks and genitals. The complainant said he cried out and Hankey left his room.
Police announced the sexual assault charge this February, saying the alleged victim had reported the incident to them in September 2020.
The identities of all three complainants are protected by publication bans. Hankey has been ordered to have no contact with them while he awaits trial.
Hankey deposited his passport with Halifax Regional Police, must remain in Nova Scotia and has to stay away from any school, education centre, college, university or church where anyone under the age of 25 is likely to be present.
A former Anglican priest, Hankey retired from King’s in 2015 but continued to lecture at neighbouring Dalhousie University until the criminal charges were laid.
Hankey was disciplined by King’s and the Anglican Church in 1991 after a former student complained he had been abused while attending the school. An ecclesiastical court convicted Hankey of immorality and decided to deprive him of his office.
King’s has commissioned two lawyers from Toronto to conduct an independent review into the allegations against Hankey and recommend how the university should respond.