Defence closes case at trial for former director at Saskatoon Christian school

Lawyers are preparing their closing arguments in the trial for John Olubobokun, a former director at a private Christian school in Saskatoon.

Olubobokun, 64, was charged with nine counts of assault with a weapon after former students came forward with allegations that he had regularly hit them with a wooden paddle when he was director of Christian Centre Academy for four years starting in 2003.

Nine former students were among the witnesses who testified at the trial when it began in June 2024. The trial continued this week with defence witnesses, including Olubobokun, who spent more than a day giving his testimony and then answering questions under cross examination.

He denied that he did any paddling. He acknowledged paddling was part of the disciplinary process at the school, but said it was carried out by the principal.

Olubobokun testified that the paddles at the school were disposed of following a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2004 that banned corporal punishment in schools, although he said he didn't know what had happened to the paddles as it wasn't him who got rid of them.

Under cross-examination, when asked if students were told not to discuss being disciplined with other students, Olubobokun said that yes, discipline was "supposed to be private" and that "once you administer the discipline," you don't bring it up afterwards.

Back in June, students testified that they would be paddled for a wide variety of infractions and that the bruises would last for weeks.

After Olubobokun's cross examination was over, the defence called three more witnesses: Olubobokun's wife Simbo, a former volleyball coach and a former teacher at the school.

One student had testified Simbo Olubobokun was present on one occasion for a paddling, but she testified that did not happen. Another student had testified that then-volleyball coach Lynette Weiler was present for some paddlings, but Weiler testified she was not.

Former teacher Dawn Beaudry testified she never witnessed anyone being paddled, but said she was "out of the loop" in terms of who might be disciplined.

After the defence closed its case, Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo said she was ready to make her closing arguments, but defence lawyer Ron Piché requested more time to prepare.

"There's a number of what we see as contradictions in the evidence in the case of the Crown," he told reporters outside court. 

"To go through it with a fine-tooth comb, if you will, it will take some time. There's also other legal issues, not a lot of them, but one of them has to do with corporal punishment, which is still on the books. Much depends on the facts, as proven by the Crown, whether it is applicable."

Judge Lisa Watson agreed to give the defence time to prepare and the trial was adjourned to May 2.

Olubobokun's trial is just one of the criminal and civil proceedings involving the school, which was renamed Legacy Christian Academy, then Valour Academy.

Olubobokun faces other assault charges jointly with former principal Duff Friesen. Another former director, Ken Schultz, is also awaiting trial on charges of assault with a weapon and sexual assault, allegations that he has denied.

Aaron Benneweis, a former coach and athletic director at the school, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and sexual exploitation in October 2023 and was sentenced to two years less a day for the offences that began in 2008 and continued until 2012.

A group of students has also launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against the academy and the connected church, Mile Two, with allegations including paddlings, coercion, traumatizing rituals and solitary confinement. The allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested in court.