A former NWT teacher has been convicted of four historical sexual offences against boys in the territory.
A jury delivered its verdict in NWT Supreme Court on Saturday following a three-week trial, as first reported by the CBC.
Jury members found Neil Barry guilty of two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual exploitation related to two boys over whom he was in a position of authority while in Yellowknife and Tulita between 2006 and 2010.
The jury acquitted Barry of two additional counts of sexual assault and sexual exploitation involving two other alleged victims.
RCMP announced in June 2021 that they had arrested Barry in High Prairie, Alberta, and charged him with two counts each of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Police said at the time they were investigating an incident believed to have occurred at summer 2009 tryouts for the Arctic Winter Games.
Barry worked in Tulita and Fort Simpson between 2007 and 2017. Police said he moved to High Prairie in 2017.
A court order issued following the jury’s verdict instructs Barry to report to RCMP in Charlottetown, PEI, once a week. He is prohibited from coming to the NWT without court approval except to participate in a sentencing hearing.
A sentencing date for Barry has not yet been set.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Barry’s legal counsel indicated they may ask for a Gardiner hearing, a type of sentencing hearing in which evidence is called when the Crown and defence disagree on the facts of the case.
Barry had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
He had sought for the court to stay proceedings, arguing that his Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time had been violated.
Justice Karan Shaner rejected that argument in early 2024, finding that the Covid-19 pandemic, related public health measures and a resulting jury trial backlog were exceptional circumstances that caused a one-year delay in Barry’s case.
Shaner also found the court had done everything it could to reasonably mitigate delays.
Had it not been for the pandemic-related delays, Shaner said Barry’s trial would have been completed within 22 months, well under the 30-month ceiling established by the Supreme Court of Canada.
