Former band teacher Roger Jabbour appeals conviction

Former high school band teacher Roger Jabbour is appealing his conviction for sexual exploitation and sexual interference.

Jabbour, 66, was found guilty at trial of one count of sexual interference, which involves sexual touching, and two counts of sexual exploitation, which involves sexual touching by a person in authority.

He was sentenced in January to 15 months in jail and 18 months probation.

The victims were three female former students of Jabbour's at Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown between 2012 and 2015. Their identities are protected under a court-ordered publication ban.

In documents filed with the court, Jabbour asks that his convictions be quashed, or failing that, that he be allowed to serve his sentence at home rather than in jail.

Grounds for appeal

The application for an appeal says the trial judge, John Douglas, made several errors in reaching his decision.

The application says Douglas' verdicts were inconsistent and unreasonable, that he failed to provide adequate reasons, that he misapplied the law covering similar fact evidence, and that his decision was not supported by the evidence.

In appealing the sentence, Jabbour's lawyer argues that Douglas didn't consider the defence's arguments that the one-year mandatory minimum sentence goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Douglas went beyond the one-year minimum in imposing a 15 month sentence. Jabbour's lawyer argues that sentence was excessive.

No date has been set for an appeal, but the earliest the Court of Appeal could hear the case would likely be June, with the fall being a more likely scenario.

If the appeal is not heard until the fall, Jabbour would have served most of the standard two-thirds of his provincial sentence before the panel of three judges heard his appeal.

Jabbour's current lawyer, Jonathan Coady, told CBC his client has not decided whether to apply to be released until his appeal is heard.

Second appeal

In a separate case heard by a different judge, Jabbour was found not guilty in November of two counts of sexual exploitation involving another former student from the 1990s.

That case is also under appeal — this time by the Crown.

It asks the court to convict Jabbour on both counts or order a new trial. It claims the judge made a number of mistakes, such as applying improper considerations, including "myths and stereotypes" to assess the complainant's reliability.

The judge for that trial, Nancy Orr, said she did not find Jabbour to be a credible witness, and found the complainant's testimony to be clear and direct.

However, Orr said some inconsistences in the woman's testimony cast a reasonable doubt on the reliability of her evidence. The appeal application says the judge should have looked at all her evidence "as a whole" when considering whether it was reliable. 

No date has been set for that appeal either.

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