All charges stayed against Steinbach teacher after evidence ruling

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This article was published 24/11/2023 (529 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All charges were stayed Wednesday against a former Steinbach high school teacher and coach.

Crown prosecutor Jonathan Mays made the decision after Provincial Court judge Wanda Garreck on Nov. 16 denied a similar fact application by the Crown prosecutor because “innocent collusion” made potential evidence of an alleged pattern of behaviour by David Bueti inadmissible.

Bueti was charged last year with five counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference in alleged incidents of inappropriately touching girls while he worked at Steinbach Regional Secondary School. Two counts of sexual assault and two of sexual interference against one of the four alleged victims were stayed this past October, leaving three sexual assault charges and one sexual interference charge proceeding in Winnipeg court.

In the 28-page ruling, Judge Garreck wrote, “From all of the evidence, I have not been satisfied by the Crown on a balance of probability that collusion is not a factor to explain the similarity in the facts he seeks to have admitted.”

Allegations

Girls on the team Bueti coached briefly in February and March 2022 accused him of inappropriate touching when he positioned them during practice drills. One also said he would make a “kissy face” when he passed by her in school.

The girls told court that they spoke to each other about how Bueti was allegedly touching them.

“I just told her that she wasn’t alone and it’s okay to feel how she feels,” testified one girl explaining what happened when another girl confided in her.

One girl said some of the players came to her asking how they could make a statement or report because things happened to them too. That girl said she did not share any specific details about what happened to her.

But in cross-examination the defence lawyer suggested she wrote a letter about her experience to her teammates before they went to police. After saying that she did not remember doing that but it was possible, the girl said she did not want to continue testifying during cross examination with the defence. The Crown stayed the charges related to her and she did not need to continue testifying.

There were other allegations included in this ruling that may be identifying for the victims.

The judge had other reasons for the ruling that she said innocent collusion impacted:

“In this case, moral prejudice could arise if a trier of fact decided the coaching style was unnecessary, or different from the other coaches and the touching of teenage girls was “creepy” or bad, potentially leading to a finding of guilt based on moral prejudice rather than assessment on the evidence,” wrote Judge Garreck.

She explained how she views potential “moral prejudice.”

“The risk of moral prejudice arises when an accused may be found guilty simply because the evidence suggests he is a bad person or his actions are out of the norm; leading to a finding of guilt out of need to correct or punish rather than on assessment of whether the standard of proof has been met,” wrote Garreck.