Jury hears closing arguments at trial of former principal of Christian school in Saskatoon

A jury will soon begin deciding whether a former principal of a private Christian school in Saskatoon is guilty of assaulting students with a weapon — a wooden paddle. 

Duff Friesen faces five counts of assault with a weapon.

The charges relate to alleged incidents between 1997 and 2007 at Christian Centre Academy. The school was later renamed Legacy Christian Academy, then Valour Academy. It’s closely associated with Mile Two Church, now called Encounter Church.

Lawyers for both sides delivered closing arguments on Thursday. 

In the last seven days of the trial, the jury heard from five former students who testified they were assaulted with a wooden paddle, and from defence witnesses, including one who described the paddle as part of a written school discipline policy that parents signed.

Defence arguments 

Defence lawyer Daniel Mol told the jury the five former students who testified weren’t credible. He said their memories from two decades ago aren’t reliable and their evidence was contradictory. 

“These events are 20-plus years ago. Recalling what happened and when it happened is going to be tough … But that’s the Crown’s problem. The Crown bears the burden of proof,” Mol said during his closing arguments.

Earlier this week, Mol called as a defence witness Lou Brunelle, a former administrator who was pictured with the paddle in a 1997 Maclean’s magazine photograph that was entered as an exhibit at Friesen’s trial.

Brunelle testified that the school’s discipline protocol included three swats with the paddle followed by a prayer.

Another witness, former classroom monitor Deidre Benneweis, identified discipline records she kept in 2003-04. She testified that she never witnessed a paddling, although she agreed she knew it happened, and that one of her own entries recorded a student being paddled after cheating.

Crown’s arguments 

Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo told jurors words like “paddling” and “spanking” make it sound like something less than a crime.

“But it’s assault with a weapon,” she said.

Fillo told the jurors they do not need to agree on every incident a witness described. To convict on a particular count, they only need to find that Friesen hit the student with a paddle at least once between the dates listed in the indictment.

“Once is enough,” Fillo said.

She reminded jurors that one of the former students testified that he was struck nine times on three separate occasions in the 2003-04 school year, which he described as “soul crushing.”

She said the complainants, now adults in their 30s and 40s, came forward to bring what happened to light.

“There were different forms of discipline used. Lou Brunelle seemed to be very proud of holding a paddle for his interview with Maclean’s magazine,” Fillo said. “No doubt this was a form of discipline used at the school, including others.”

The Crown’s witnesses at the trial included Coy Nolin, who told the jury he was called to Friesen’s office after falling behind on his schoolwork and was told he would be paddled and sent back to class. He said he put his hands on the seat of a chair and bent over.

“He struck me three times,” Nolin said, adding that the force was enough to move him and the chair. 

Justice Daryl Labach is expected to instruct the jury on Friday before they begin deliberating.