Jury trial begins for a former N.W.T. teacher facing multiple sexual offence charges
CBC
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A jury trial began in Yellowknife on Wednesday for a former Northwest Territories teacher, facing multiple sexual offence charges.
Neil Alexander Barry, now 49, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual exploitation. Barry worked as a teacher in Tulita and Fort Simpson, N.W.T., between 2007 and 2017.
The Crown alleges the sexual abuse involved four boys, then aged 16 to 18, their identities are protected by a court ordered publication ban. The Crown prosecutor says Barry allegedly committed the sexual offences between 2007 and 2011.
The incidents allegedly occurred in Tulita around 2007, where Barry was a teacher and a basketball coach. And in Yellowknife in the summer of 2009 during basketball tryouts for the Arctic Winter Games.
Barry was formally charged in June 2021, but his case was delayed when jury trials were postponed because of pandemic restrictions, after which Barry's lawyer went on parental leave. He is pleading not guilty to all charges.
In its opening statement, the Crown says while working as a teacher in Tulita, Barry often took boys into his house to help them with school and basketball and two of them ended up living with him and his wife at the time.
The Crown told the court that victims allege Barry would make sexual jokes, play games and drink with them. One alleges Barry performed oral sex on him during a basketball trip to Yellowknife.
Jurors also heard the agreed statements of facts.
This included testimony from Barry's ex-wife, Kathleen Barry, who told the High Level RCMP detachment in 2020, that "things happened" between Barry and the boys. The two separated in 2014.
RCMP began investigating shortly after, and started taking statements from the complainants. One complainant told RCMP that the offences occurred in a hotel room in Yellowknife during the 2009 Arctic Winter Games basketball tryouts and that no other witnesses were present during the alleged incident.
The Crown also said throughout the investigation, RCMP took more victim statements, and corroborated evidence with witnesses, hotel booking records, and game rosters under Barry's name.
An RCMP officer testified in court about her initial conversations with one of the complainants. She said she observed he was physically agitated, with "jiggly feet", while recounting the alleged incidents involving Barry. She said this behaviour subsided after talking about the incidents.
Barry's defence counsel argued that these reactions are not indicative of guilt or innocence.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
The body of a 17-year-old girl has been recovered from the Thames River in Chatham.
Court documents obtained by CBC detail the inner workings of a multi-level organized ring of stolen goods traffickers allegedly directing prolific shoplifters who have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes from Lululemon stores across the Lower Mainland.
The City of Thunder Bay is resuming its search for a site for its proposed temporary shelter village.
The Greater Toronto Area is sweltering through another day of blistering heat, but Environment Canada says the region should see some relief Tuesday night.
Speedboat. Overdid. Cameos.
Many golf courses on Prince Edward Island are close to potato fields, and that means an errant tee shot could lead to problems for farmers.
To Frank Patterson, a First Nations elder in Mayo, Yukon, last year's catastrophic failure at the nearby Eagle gold mine was not a total surprise.
Short and sweet is not usually a phrase associated with the annual NATO leaders' summit, but arguably that's what many member nations are hoping for as U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the table.
London's hospitals are facing an uptick in both the frequency and severity of injuries involving electric scooters and bikes as the machines become more affordable and popular, according to both a doctor and an injury prevention specialist in the region.
A man who was reported overdue from a boating trip out of Bloomfield on Newfoundland's Bonavista Peninsula was found dead on a shoreline in nearby Brooklyn, according to the RCMP.
The daughter of an 81-year-old man who was left alone inside a public transit vehicle for about 7½ hours says she has many questions about what led to the incident.
A program that has existed in Saint John for years is expanding to Moncton.
With extreme heat and humidity creating dangerous conditions across the Greater Toronto Area, doctors are warning pregnant people about the serious health risks heat waves pose to them.