Judge rules against using teens’ similar-fact evidence in teacher’s sex-assault trial

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This article was published 17/11/2023 (660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prosecutors in the case of a Steinbach teacher and rugby coach accused of sexually assaulting three female students will not be allowed to use the evidence of each alleged victim to support the other after a judge ruled Thursday their testimony may have been tainted by “innocent collusion.”

David Bueti, 43, worked as a teacher and coach at Steinbach Regional Secondary School at the time of the alleged 2022 offences.

In testimony last month, the three teens told court Bueti touched them inappropriately in his capacity as assistant rugby coach.

The testimony was heard as part of a Crown similar fact motion that, if accepted, would have allowed the prosecution to argue Bueti’s alleged actions were evidence of a pattern of conduct that supported a finding of guilt.

Two teens testified the alleged assaults occurred during rugby practice when Bueti used his hands to reposition their bodies during drills — touching their breasts or chest area with his hands, and in one case briefly brushing his pelvis against a player’s backside. Another teen alleged Bueti touched her inappropriately under the guise of examining an injury.

Under cross-examination, one teen admitted she could not be sure Bueti was aware he was touching her with his pelvis. Another who testified Bueti touched her breast previously told police he did not touch her breast.

The teens testified they discussed the alleged incidents with each other.

“It was clear the players… all discussed Mr. Bueti and inappropriate touching on many or several occasions, before they went to make their statements to police,” provincial court Judge Wanda Garreck wrote in a 28-page ruling.

“The discussions were not only general discussions but included the exchange of details of what they describe Mr. Bueti did to them and to each other,” she said.

“The court is left with probable concern that innocent contamination or accidental collusion in this case may affect and diminish the probative value of the similar-fact evidence. It raises significant concern about the very foundation upon which this type of evidence is admissible, that is, the improbability of coincidence to explain the similar acts.”

Garreck said the assaults as alleged by the Crown — all committed while Bueti was acting in his capacity as coach and involving two players who reported inappropriate touching to similar parts of their bodies — were not sufficiently similar to be accepted as evidence of a pattern of behaviour.

The rugby team’s head coach testified Bueti acted as assistant coach for less than two months before she asked him to step down due to their different coaching styles.

“She testified she never saw any inappropriate interaction between Mr. Bueti and any of the players on the team,” Garreck said.

Bueti was originally charged with five counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference involving six students between the ages of 15 and 18. Charges involving one of the alleged victims were stayed by the Crown following her testimony at trial. Court records show charges involving two other alleged victims were stayed last month.

The trial will resume later this month.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca