Metro Vancouver art instructor found not guilty of child sexual abuse, despite judge’s concerns with case

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A Metro Vancouver art instructor has been found not guilty of sexually abusing a young student, despite the judge ruling that she strongly suspected the defendant groped the girl “under her pants as she described it.”

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According to a BC Supreme Court ruling, the teacher was arrested last March after the student reported the alleged incidents to her mother.

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The girl testified that during the course of art classes at the man’s house, he put his hand down her pants, under her underwear, and that he placed her hand on his penis, over her pants. .

He was subsequently charged with touching a child (count one) and inviting a child to touch him (count two) for sexual purposes, to which he pleaded not guilty.

The teacher said the only touching that occurred was to correct the student’s sitting position or posture while drawing and painting. She said that she was a strict teacher who often admonished the student and that at one point she had placed her hands on her torso to push her back into her seat.

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Judge Heather Holmes said the girl was a credible witness and that key areas of her testimony “had the ring of truth.”

“I accept (the student’s) evidence that (the teacher) groped her inside her pants, in the manner she described, during the last lesson on Sunday and on at least one other occasion, probably on several other occasions.”

In reference to the alleged penile contact, Holmes wrote that “(the student’s) uncertainty or discomfort in recalling or describing this conduct does not reduce the credibility of her evidence.

“However, together with the associated absence of detail, they leave his evidence on this allegation as little more than a mere assertion of the conduct he described, with little context against which to assess its reliability.”

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In conclusion, Holmes wrote that if he had to choose between student evidence and teacher evidence regarding Charge 1, he would “conclude that (the student’s) evidence is more credible and reliable than (teacher’s).

“However, that is not the task. For an accused person to be found guilty of a criminal offence, the evidence must establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a very high standard. It does not require absolute certainty, but it does require more than a strong suspicion.

“The evidence in this case leaves me strongly suspecting that (the teacher) touched (the student) under her pants as she described. However, the evidence does not give me confidence on that point beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence (from the master) is not convincing, for the reasons I have given, but I cannot reject it outright. It leaves me with reasonable doubt.”

As a result, the teacher was found not guilty on both counts.

The defendant’s name, the location of the art studio and the ages of all parties were withheld due to a publication ban put in place to protect the girl’s identity.