Toronto teacher guilty of student sex offences

Offender’s name kept secret under court-imposed ban to protect identity of victims

A Toronto private-school teacher pleaded guilty Thursday to sex offences involving minors and making child pornography.

Because of a publication ban, the media can’t name the accused, the victims or the school he taught at.

The teacher, now 43, taught physical education and music at the school from 2003 to 2016.

He pleaded guilty to sexual interference, sexual exploitation and making child pornography.

According to an agreed statement of facts, he tutored the first complainant, who was 14 at the time, in math on an almost weekly basis at his home.

During those sessions, which spanned from late June 2009 to early September 2009, he kissed the complainant on the mouth and fondled her hips, buttocks and breasts over her clothes. He also sent sexualized text messages to the complainant.

“He was my teacher and supposed to protect me, not hurt me,” the victim told the hearing Thursday.

She said the defendant “used his charm and charisma on an insecure young girl.”

“There were no boundaries with him, he blurred the lines of my understanding of what was appropriate and what healthy intimacy should look like,” she said. “My former teacher was so good at making me feel as if this sexual abuse was something I wanted and not what it is — violence.”

She said her family has spent thousands on her therapy.

The second victim began receiving sexualized text messages from the teacher in September 2012, when she was 16, according to the agreed statement of facts.

She said the defendant “groomed” her to “believe that the scariest thing to say to him was no.”

During their acquaintance, the defendant kissed the victim, digitally penetrated her and performed oral sex on her.

“I now never take my emotional or physical safety for granted. I feel extremely scared,” she told the court.

The teacher, a father of two, was emotional as he apologized in court to the victims and their families.

“Words cannot express the selfloathing and horror I’m confronted with daily,” he said. “I was selfish, unkind and oblivious to all the lives I would end up hurting.”

Defence lawyer Owen Wigderson argued the accused’s name should be included in the publication ban because it could reveal the identity of the complainants.

Crown attorney Patricia Garcia argued the accused has already been identified in media reports prior to the ban.

Ajudge will decide later this month whether to hear arguments against the publication ban of the accused’s name.