Ontario man 'shocked' by sex allegations from boys, court hears

An Ontario man on trial for sex crimes against two boys took the witness stand Wednesday in Charlottetown to deny the allegations against him.

Timothy Andrew Neuman testified in Supreme Court he was shocked, upset and hurt when he first heard about the allegations.

Neuman, 34, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include sexual assault and sexual touching.

The incidents allegedly took place in a motel room where Neuman was living on P.E.I.

Neuman told the court his family was friends with the family of the two boys, who are brothers.

Spent time at motel

He said the boys spent a lot of time at the motel, where he was living and working for the summer, and that he agreed to help keep an eye on them.

Neuman said he bought them pen knives, and taught them to build camp fires.

He said when they asked for sleepovers, he told them they could stay in the spare bedroom of his motel unit, if they got their family's permission.

Neuman denied the allegations of one of the boys — that inside that motel unit, he made them drink beer, watch pornography and engage in sexual activity.

Screened as scout leader

Neuman also testified he used to be a volunteer scout leader in Ontario, but that he was suspended by Scouts Canada after they heard RCMP on P.E.I. were investigating these allegations.

Scouts Canada told CBC it screened Neuman and did a police background check before he was allowed to work with kids and that he passed all of those checks at that time.

One of the boys gave three videotaped interviews to police over a period of a year and a half. He gave testimony on Monday.

Decision expected in March

On Wednesday, a child psychologist testified that the other boy was not able to give a meaningful statement to police.

The trial has wrapped up and the case is now in the hands of the judge. He said he'll have a decision in June.

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