Boissevain teacher sentenced to 6 months for sexual exploitation of former student
Troy Innes pleaded guilty in 2022 to crime dating back to 2010
WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.
A former southwestern Manitoba teacher will spend time behind bars for the sexual exploitation of a teenage student, which a judge called "an abuse of a position of trust."
Troy Innes pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation in 2022 in the historic sex crime, which happened over a year in 2010. He was sentenced Tuesday in a Killarney provincial circuit court to six months in jail and 18 months probation, following sentencing submissions last October.
Innes wasn't arrested until December 2021, and was teaching in the Brandon School Division at the time.
He was initially charged with two counts of sexual assault, as well as luring and sexual exploitation of a young person by a person in authority, RCMP said at the time.
He pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation in November 2022.
Crown attorney Andrew Sieklicki said the more than two-year gap between his plea and his sentencing was due to a delay in documents needed before sentencing, and also because of a defence Charter challenge on the minimum sentence Innes should face.
At the time the crime was committed, the minimum sentence was 45 days in custody. It has since been increased to one year.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Innes, who was 30 at the time, began a relationship with a female student at Boissevain School, where he taught from Grades 9 to 10 in 2009-10. The exploitive relationship began with time spent on school property and soon escalated to sexually explicit texts and meeting up in person, court heard.
The relationship marked a breach of trust and has caused lifelong harm and trauma to a person who was a vulnerable student, Judge Donovan Dvorak said.
WATCH | Former teacher pleads guilty to sexual exploitation:
The victim, who was a teenager at the time, did not provide an impact statement at the sentencing.
While he believes Innes is a low risk to reoffend and noted he had no previous criminal record, Dvorak said a message needs to be sent.
"The message must be loud and clear to those who are in positions of trust and authority, like teachers, that children under their trust are not to be considered potential sexual partners, and to become involved in this type of offending will result in significant consequences," he said.
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.