2 weeks Ago By Ari Yanover
Canada’s top court has ordered a former Alberta teacher who molested a student 30 years ago back to prison — after a hearing in which the nation’s top jurist suggested Paul Sheppard may have lied under oath about a past child abuse conviction. The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday unanimously ruled Sheppard’s six-year sentence for sexually abusing Steacy Easton at Saint John’s School of Alberta should be reinstated, after the Alberta Court of Appeal shortened the sentence to just under four years . The court gave Sheppard — who now lives in Ontario — 48 hours to surrender himself to authorities.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner rebuked the Alberta court ruling, saying now-retired Court of Appeal Justice Thomas Wakeling did not appear to understand jurisprudence ordering longer sentences for people who sexually abuse children. In a remarkable exchange with Sheppard’s lawyer, Wagner also suggested Sheppard may have lied about a previous conviction for assaulting children when he was a young police officer in Stratford, Ont. — details of which only emerged during Sheppard’s parole hearing .
“You asked him (during trial) if he had prior convictions and he said ‘No,’” Wagner told defence lawyer Brian Beresh. “In your opinion, is that perjury?” “I don’t think it is,” Beresh replied. “I must tell you, I was unaware of any prior record.
” “He said that he had no prior record, and the new evidence reveals he had,” Wagner shot back. “You asked him the question, he’s the one who knows, he said ‘No.’ Is that perjury?” “I suggest that it isn’t,” Beresh answered.
The court issued its judgment Wednesday but has yet to release a full explanation of its decision. While exact dates were not worked out during the hearing, Justice Mary Moreau suggested Sheppard will become eligible for parole in September. Easton watched the Supreme Court proceedings in person and said the decision is a welcome surprise.
Sheppard was not present. “I am frustrated that this could have been solved decades ago,” Easton said in reference to the Stratford conviction, which did little to hamper his teaching career. “I feel a distinct social pressure to be angry in very specific ways, and I am just sad and tired.
” Sheppard was convicted of sexually abusing Easton in 2021 after a jury trial in Wetaskiwin. The abuse occurred at Saint John’s — an austere boarding school southwest of Edmonton founded by conservative luminary Ted Byfield — during the 1993-94 school year, when Easton was in Grade 7. Easton testified Sheppard touched them sexually around a dozen times, usually while administering corporal punishment in the form of spankings.
Sheppard, 61, was a career international educator who taught and administered schools around the world, earning a PhD in educational management. Easton came forward after Sheppard was acquitted of similar charges in England related to his 1989 stint at Ampleforth College. After his conviction in Alberta, Sheppard was sentenced to six years in prison, but appealed both the conviction and sentence.
He was allowed to remain on bail pending appeal until September 2023. A few months later, the Alberta Court of Appeal issued a 2-1 decision finding Sheppard’s sentence should be reduced to just under four years. Writing for the majority, Wakeling and Justice Kevin Feehan found trial Justice Debra Yungwirth did not adequately explain how she decided six years was the appropriate punishment.
Wakeling said while Yungwirth accepted Easton’s claims that there were 10-12 instances of sexual touching, she did not adequately explain how and that the only “safe” conclusion was that jurors concluded only one instance of sexual touching per count occurred. The Crown later appealed to the Supreme Court. During arguments Wednesday, Crown lawyer Matthew Griener said Wakeling substituted his own opinions on the evidence, rather than assessing whether Yungwirth made legal errors.
“It wasn’t the role of Justice Wakeling, as an appellate judge, to reweigh evidence and make his own findings of fact, absent palpable, overriding error,” Griener said. Beresh urged the court to let the shorter sentence stand, saying a judge has to give “clarity as to what the facts are” when they sentence someone after a jury verdict. Wagner was particularly critical of Wakeling, saying there is no evidence he grappled with Friesen , the Supreme Court decision instructing sentencing judges to give harsher punishments in cases of child sex abuse.
“That was very clear,” Wagner said of the Friesen decision, “and it is understood across the country, except in Mr. Wakeling’s court.” Wagner on several occasions dug into Sheppard’s 1987 assault conviction for spanking boys he met during his work as a city police officer in Stratford, which predated his teaching career.
Asked by the court why the conviction was not before the sentencing judge, Griener said he did not know, other than the information may not have been on Sheppard’s Canadian Police Information Centre record. Justice Suzanne Côté also picked up on the issue, suggesting Sheppard “lied” about having a prior record. Thursday’s hearing included intervener submissions from the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, whose lawyer argued the Alberta court engaged in myths and stereotypes about sexual violence against children.
“Had the majority truly applied Friesen, they would not have engaged in the kind of mathematical parsing we see of what is ‘less harmful’ sexual violence,” Angela Marinos said. Easton — who in the past expressed ambivalence about Sheppard being sent to prison — was pleased with the verdict, noting Sheppard’s continued refusal to take responsibility for the sexual abuse. “I do not want anyone to go to prison, but if there was a case for someone to go to prison, it is him.
Beresh said he and his client are “ very disappointed” with the decision “to overrule the decision of two senior Court of Appeal justices whose lengthy decisions reflect the attention and effort made to come to, what we believe was, a just and fair decision.” As for the suggestion Sheppard lied at his trial, “It is clear from the record that they could not conclude whether he lied or was mistaken as to whether the prior matters were convictions which had not been pardoned or expunged. I think that is why they left the discussion after that.
” [email protected] x.com/jonnywakefield @jonnywakefield.
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