Ex-hockey coach says he didn't know alleged sexual assault victim was underage

The former minor hockey coach accused of sexual assault against a minor told Saint John police he thought the boy was 16 when they "fooled around."

A June 21, 2017, interrogation tape of Scott Geikie was played in Saint John court Tuesday, the second day of his trial.

Geikie, who is now 43, is charged with one count of sexual assault against a minor between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2010, and one count of child luring in August 2011.

In the tape, Geikie repeatedly denied sexually assaulting anyone.

The alleged victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, described in detail the day the assault took place, including which fast food restaurant they went to, what sandwich he got and the bank card Geikie used to pay for the meal.

Geikie's account of that night was identical to the accuser's, except for what happened when they went into the bedroom.

On Monday, the accuser testified that Geikie put on gay porn, then turned it off.

He remembered a drink lid popping off and crushed pills, but there is a gap in his memory, he said. When he came to, he testified, his arms were tied above his head and Geikie masturbated next to him, before performing oral sex on him.

In the interrogation by Const. Dwayne Hussey, Geikie said the boy was in the room, but they were lying on the bed watching TV. Geikie said they kissed and there was "some touching," and that was the only sexual act that happened.

"I thought he was gay, I thought he was interested and I thought he was of age," Geikie said during the interrogation, to which Hussey responded, "It would have been impossible for you not to know his age … you're a coach."

Geikie repeated that oral sex or other details described by the accuser "never happened."

Child luring

After the day at Geikie's apartment, the two kept in touch, since they knew each other through hockey.

They spoke about sports as well as personal problems and relationships, sometimes late at night and mostly on social media.

The child-luring charge stems from a 2011 exchange on Facebook messenger, where Geikie allegedly asked the boy to video-chat or "cam" with him.

Geikie allegedly said "Jerk off on cam" to the boy, to which he replied "Um no."

After asking him "why" two times, and the boy deflecting, Geikie said, "I've seen it already why would it be weird?"

After reading these exchanges to Geikie during interrogation, Hussey said, "He was 13."

Going to the police

The alleged victim first disclosed what happened to him to a hockey official, who went to the police two days later.

Robert (Bob) Keays was the second witness to testify at the trial.

Keays told the court he had set up a day to meet with the alleged victim on June 4, 2017, to discuss an unrelated matter.

The day before they were set to meet, Keays, who's a Saint John Youth Minor Hockey referee-in-chief, was shown a video made by a group called Creep Catchers.

The group alleged Geikie tried to set up a late-night meeting with a fictional 15-year-old boy. Members of the group posed as the 15-year-old boy and allegedly exchanged messages with Geikie over social media to set up the meeting.

Keays showed the victim the video. After viewing parts of the video, he told Keays what he believes happened to him around six years ago.

"I was in disbelief," Keays told the court.

The alleged victim told the court he's never told anyone what happened because Geikie told him he and his parents would get in legal trouble.

"It wasn't out of the fear of not being taken seriously," the accuser said in response to the defence's questions about why he didn't tell his parents earlier.

"It was more so the fact that I was embarrassed, and over the time period Scott [Geikie] always told me it was my fault."

After seeing the text messages, Keays testified he went to the Saint John Police Force to "report the sexual crime."

Realized he wasn't alone

"I'm also good friends with Scott Geikie because we were all on the same board, we worked together," he said. "But I had the due diligence in my role as referee-in-chief to report this to the Saint John police."

The alleged victim got a call from the police less than a week after he told Keays what happened.

He said he chose to talk to the police because he'd thought he was the only one this happened to and the video proved otherwise.

"When I seen the video, I knew," the accuser said. "It enlightened. 'Wow. He's doing it to other kids.' So I knew what his intentions were."