Supreme Court restores sentence for man who abused student at Alberta school for boys
Former teacher Paul Sheppard, convicted in 2021, must return to custody
The Supreme Court has restored a six-year prison sentence for a former teacher convicted of sexually abusing a student at an Alberta boarding school for boys.
Paul Sheppard, former headmaster at the now-defunct Saint John's School of Alberta, was convicted in 2021 for committing sexual offences against a student in the early 1990s.
Sheppard was tried and convicted by judge and jury of one count each of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault on Steacy Easton, who was between 12 and 13 at the time of the abuse.
Easton was granted a court application to have a publication ban on their name removed.
At the time of the abuse, Sheppard was a teacher at the rural boarding school, located along the North Saskatchewan River near Genesee, Alta., about 80 kilometres southwest of Edmonton. He was later promoted to headmaster.
The school was known for its gruelling wilderness program, which promised to provide students with a strict, traditional education. It promoted the use of corporal punishment on students.
Sheppard, now 61, was sentenced to six years in prison for his crimes against Easton. In 2023, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled the sentence was unfit and reduced the term to just under four years — from 72 months to 47.
On Wednesday, that decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada, which ordered that the original six-year term be reinstated. The judges delivered their decision orally after the appeal was heard.
"We are all of the view to allow the appeal," the justices stated. "We order that the term of imprisonment imposed at trial be restored."
The Supreme Court has yet to issue its reasons.
Sheppard, who was granted day parole after a hearing in late July, must return to custody to complete the remainder of his prison term. He has been ordered to turn himself into authorities by Friday.
A history of abuse
In addition to the charges in Alberta, Sheppard had previously faced sexual abuse charges at a boarding school in the United Kingdom. He was found not guilty in 2015.
Meanwhile, a CBC News investigation found Sheppard was a convicted serial child abuser before he ever became a teacher.
Those convictions stemmed from the brief time when he worked as a police officer in Stratford, Ont., in 1985 and 1986.
Sheppard was charged with five counts of sexual assault and seven counts of assault against young boys. In 1987, he pleaded guilty to six counts of assault in exchange for the court dropping the sexual assault charges.
Easton attended the Saint John's School of Alberta for Grade 7 and endured months of abuse during his single year in residence.
Sheppard's trial heard how he watched Easton in the shower and spanked him dozens of times as a means of punishment. But the painful encounters grew increasingly sexual, Easton testified.
The abuse involved uninvited touching, molestation, masturbation and oral sex — both inside and outside the confines of the school.
'No mitigating factors'
The sentencing judge found that between October 1993 and spring 1994, Sheppard sexually violated Easton approximately 10 times.
In imposing a six-year sentence, the judge considered several aggravating circumstances, including the duration and frequency of the sexual assaults. She found that there "were no mitigating factors" in the case.
The Court of Appeal of Alberta found that the sentencing judge had made legal errors. The court said the judge failed to provide reasons for making factual findings independent of the jury's final verdict and erred in accepting that each instance of abuse alleged in the case should be "accepted as proven."
In a written decision, two of the three judges said his punishment was too harsh given the crime. The decision did not cite his previous criminal record.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Canadian Press