Winnipeg man sues teacher over past sexual relationship

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This article was published 05/12/2021 (1018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man is suing a former city high school teacher, alleging she drew him into a sexual relationship when he was 15.

In a lawsuit filed in February, the man alleges the English teacher “facilitated a relationship of a sexual nature,” including intercourse and oral sex, between February and November 2015.

The man claims he broke off the relationship after he turned 16, “due to feelings of guilt, disgust and remorse.”

The woman, the lawsuit alleges, continued to send the boy secret messages in class “conveying her attraction and love” and “emotionally tormenting” him with threats of suicide.

After the man turned 18, the teacher made repeated attempts to reignite the relationship, “to the reluctance and irritation of the plaintiff,” says the lawsuit.

The now-21-year-old alleges the abuse has left him with feelings of low self-esteem, depression, social isolation, guilt and anxiety, He is suing for $410,000 in damages.

“The defendant unilaterally exercised her discretionary power over the plaintiff for the purpose of the defendant’s sexual gratification,” alleges the lawsuit.

The man is also suing the Seine River School Division, alleging staff and administrators were aware of the inappropriate relationship.

“At all material times during the plaintiff’s time at (the school), other teachers and administration were aware of (the defendant’s) illicit interactions and overboard attentions… but nothing was ever done to curb or prohibit (the defendant’s and plaintiff’s) involvement,” says the lawsuit.

The school division, in a counterclaim and statement of defence, denied any knowledge of the relationship and said any illegal activity occurred off school grounds, freeing the division of responsibility.

The teacher, who has since resigned and now works in a rural school division, denies initiating a sexual relationship with the boy, alleging in a counterclaim and statement of defence he sexually assaulted her afterhours at school, and then threatened to expose the incident if she didn’t continue to have sex with him.

“At no point did the defendant consent to sexual intercourse with the plaintiff and all intercourse amounted to rape,” the teacher’s claim alleges.

The woman alleges the assaults stopped between September 2015 and September 2017, then resumed at the man’s instigation after he turned 18.

The woman said the then-teen forced her to send him an “intimate Image” by text in the fall of 2017, which she later learned he had shared with people at a local bar.

The school division, in court documents, said it had become aware of the picture’s circulation, but did not know at the time of any alleged sexual contact between the student and teacher, and accepted her resignation.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca