Yukon man recounts decades-old abuse by babysitter, principal
Last Updated: Monday, April 21, 2008 | 12:37 PM CT
CBC News
A 34-year-old man told a Yukon court that he was sexually abused as a child in Whitehorse nearly three decades ago, both by his female babysitter and by his elementary school principal.
The man testified Friday in Yukon Supreme Court, as part of his civil lawsuit against the two individuals and the Yukon government.
The plaintiff's name, and the names of the accused, cannot be published under a court-ordered publication ban. Justice Ted Richard is hearing the trial, which is expected to run until the end of this month.
On the stand Friday, the plaintiff described how the babysitter — then a 12-year-old adopted foster child living in his family's home — tortured and sexually abused him from the time he was five years old.
The man testified that he did not know what was going on as the girl forced him to attempt sexual acts.
The foster girl, now a 42-year-old woman, testified earlier in the week that she did abuse the boy at the time.
She also testified that she was the victim of sexual abuse in a group home she had lived in prior to moving into the plaintiff's family's home.
In his testimony, the plaintiff also alleged that his elementary school principal preyed upon him around the time he was in Grade 1.
The man testified that the principal, who had earned the boy's trust by rescuing him from schoolyard scraps, later lured him into a storage closet and fondled him sexually.
The plaintiff sobbed aloud on the stand, pointing to the former teacher in the court gallery.
"That's him there," the man told the court. "I ain't scared of him no more, just angry."
Lawyers for the former principal and the Yukon government attacked the plaintiff's credibility on Friday, pointing out numerous inconsistencies in his story over the course of the investigation leading up to the trial.
But the man insisted that he was being truthful, telling the court that he has been clean and sober for almost two weeks as he prepared for the trial.
