Teen brought ‘culture of hazing’
St. Mike’s ‘more violent, more sexual’ after boy joined team, court hears
TORONTO — A teen accused of sexually assaulting two students at a private all-boys Catholic school in Toronto had made hazing “more violent, more sexual,” another teen testified Monday.
The teen told virtual youth court the accused had brought a “culture of hazing” into the football locker room at St. Michael’s College School, where two sexual assaults occurred in October and November 2018.
“It was more older guys picking on the newer guys but, once (he) came, it started to get more violent, more sexual in nature, people’s pants being pulled down and things like that,” the teen said in virtual court.
The accused teen has pleaded not guilty to two counts each of gang sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon and assault with a weapon related to two incidents in which students were sexually assaulted with a broom handle.
No young person can be named due to provisions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The testifying teen said he had seen an incident in the locker room in October where four students, including the accused, had been circling another teen.
They had begun chanting “eh, eh, eh, eh,” the sign that a hazing incident was about to occur.
“I just didn’t want to stick around to see what was up,” he said.
“I guess I had been a little lucky no one had really hazed me, if they’re done with him maybe they’ll come after me next, so I just kinda got out of there.”
The next morning, he said, “I heard this kid had been raped with a broom.”
It was the same teen victim who had been spanked on his bare buttocks with a broom in the locker room earlier in the season, he said. The teen said the accused and two others tried to pull down his pants that fall, but they were unable to.
The testifying teen said he did not witness a second sexual assault with a broom handle after a game Nov. 7, but heard about it the next morning after a video that captured the incident was shared on Snapchat.
The teen said he didn’t have Snapchat and did not see the video, but many students, including his teammates, were talking about it.