Appeal Court rejects ex-teacher’s bid to overturn child-luring conviction in case involving 14-year-old student

Manitoba’s highest court has upheld a conviction for a former high school teacher found guilty of sexually luring a then-14-year-old student.

The 32-year-old man was convicted last year of one count of child luring and sentenced to 33 months in prison. A court-ordered publication ban prohibits identifying him by name, as it might identify his victim.

The case against the man — identified in court documents by the initials K.B. — consisted largely of thousands of text messages between the teacher and girl sent over the span of eight months, detailing an emotionally intimate relationship and discussion of secret meetings where they would hug.

The man appealed his conviction to the Manitoba Court of Appeal, arguing the sentencing judge had no evidence to conclude he was sexually grooming the girl.

The high court dismissed the man’s appeal in a 42-page written decision released Thursday.

“I am not convinced that the trial judge erred in the inferences she drew in reaching her conclusion that the accused intended to facilitate the offences of sexual interference and sexual assault,” Justice Diana Cameron wrote on behalf of the court.

The man also argued that his conviction should be set aside for undue delay. He was arrested in July 2020 and convicted in July 2023, a period exceeding the 18-month time limit for charges to be resolved, as set out in the 2016 Supreme Court of Canada “Jordan” decision.

Provincial court Judge Cindy Sholdice ruled against a defence delay motion argued at trial, finding a number of delays — including one incurred after the original prosecutor suffered a death in the family — fell under the category of “exceptional circumstances,” and thus not in breach of the Jordan timeline.

“I agree with the overall conclusion of the trial judge that the total delay from the laying of the charge until the conclusion of the evidence and arguments fell within the Jordan ceiling for matters dealt with in provincial court,” Cameron said.

Court heard at trial that K.B. met the victim when she was in Grade 7 and he was a substitute teacher. When the girl moved to a different school the following year, the two began messaging each other over Instagram and text, more than 7,000 messages in all between July 2019 and March 2020.

The messages included evidence of the two sharing lunch together at K.B.’s home, watching a movie at the girl’s home when her parents were away, time together in a hotel room during a school sports trip, secret meetings to share hugs and warnings from K.B. that the girl be careful no one find out about their relationship and “get the wrong impression.”

In one message, K.B., married at the time and expecting a child, told the girl she was his “favourite person ever,” and in another that he “freakin love(d)” her.

The man testified at trial, claiming there was no sexual intent to his relationship with the girl, which blossomed after she helped him establish a rapport with other students and he helped her improve her confidence.

The man “acknowledged in his evidence looking back that he and (the victim) being in the presence of each other outside of school was inappropriate,” but did not believe at the time he was doing anything wrong, Sholdice said when convicting him.

It was “beyond belief” that (K.B.) would not know he had crossed relationship boundaries with the girl, the judge said, rejecting his claim that he did not actively seek out her attention.

Even when rumours began to circulate in the community about his relationship with the girl, he “pushed forward anyway,” she said.

The man’s “hunger for the (victim’s) attention was clear from the start,” Sholdice said. “The communications illustrate that their relationship was far more intimate and exceeded the boundaries of two people simply being friends.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca