'A practice of shunning': Judge paints picture of private Saskatoon school's culture at time of sexual offences
CTV
Details about the overreaching culture of a private religious school were read on record by a judge for the first time on Thursday.
Details about the overreaching culture of a private religious school were read on record by a judge for the first time on Thursday.
Judge Marilyn Grey described Legacy Christian Academy as a "very insular community with little outside influence" that requires students to blindly obey authority.
Grey painted a picture of the environment of the school, ahead of sentencing Aaron Benneweis — a former gym teacher and athletic director of the school. Benneweis pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual exploitation of his then-13-year-old student, Jennifer Beaudry.
Grey noted Benneweis did not have "any professional training as a teacher."
She said the majority of teachers at the school did not have accreditation; the school assigned staff from the church, that operated the school, and hired them as teachers. Family, church and school all overlapped.
"If a family joined the church, the children were required to attend the academy. Church members were not allowed to associate with anyone outside of the church and would be removed from the membership if they did," Grey said.
When the pastor heard about the abuse Beaudry faced at the hands of Benneweis, the pastor said it would be "gracious" for Beaudry's family not to make a police report.
