Former teacher Jabbour found guilty of sexual touching charges, not guilty of sexual assault

Former high school band teacher Roger Jabbour has been found guilty of three sex-related charges, and not guilty of three more serious charges of sexual assault.

Jabbour, 65, went on trial in July on eight charges.

Of the three guilty findings, one was sexual interference, which involves sexual touching. The two other guilty findings were sexual exploitation, which involve sexual touching by a person in authority or position of trust. The judge stayed two charges of sexual interference.

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

Jabbour took the stand during his two-day trial to deny all the allegations against him. He told the court he did hug the girls and took them to supper to thank them for extra work they did with the music department but said his relationship with the girls was not inappropriate.

The three young women testified Jabbour had hugged and kissed them, met with them privately in his office with the door closed, and chatted with them on-line late into the night, regularly.

Judge reviews evidence

Provincial Court Judge John Douglas took an hour Friday to review his analysis of the evidence.

He said there may have been some minor inconsistencies in what the three young women said on the stand, such as whether there were blinds in Jabbour's office.

They did not appear to be vindictive towards Mr. Jabbour- Judge John Douglas

But overall, the judge said, the three women appeared honest, and there was no evidence they were making up stories against their former band teacher.

"All three appeared to have a good and complete memory of the events …. They did not appear to be vindictive towards Mr. Jabbour," said Douglas.

In contrast, the judge found Jabbour's version of events "implausible."

At his trial, Jabbour testified that he had a normal teacher-student relationship with all three girls and that nothing he did was inappropriate.

I do not believe his version of events- Judge John Douglas

"His total denial of inappropriate conduct and contact undermines greatly his credibility as a witness," said Douglas.

"I do not believe his version of events nor am I left with doubt as to whether or not it could be true or accurate."

The judge pointed to Jabbour's full body hugs, meeting students with the office door shut, emailing students using a private email address, and watching a movie with two of the students at one of their homes when her parents were out.

In the end, the judge said there's still some doubt in his mind about whether there was a sexual assault.

He pointed out the complainants themselves testified they didn't feel they had been sexually assaulted at the time, and there was no removal of clothes or touching under clothes involved, so Douglas found Jabbour not guilty of three charges of sexual assault.

However, Douglas said he had "no such doubt" that sexual interference and sexual exploitation did happen.

Sentencing adjourned

The judge ordered a pre-sentence report prior to sentencing. Court heard those generally take six to eight weeks, so sentencing was adjourned until that report is submitted.

Jabbour's lawyer, Joel Pink, told the court he intends to make a constitutional argument that the mandatory minimum sentence of one year in jail for sex-related crimes involving children is "cruel and unusual punishment" in this case.

The judge will hear those arguments on Nov. 2.

Before that happens Jabbour faces another trial on Sept. 14 on charges of sexual touching involving a fourth female student. Those allegations date back to the 1990s.