A male youth from western Newfoundland is facing three counts of sexual assault, but there’s not much anyone involved in the situation is saying about it.
Glenda Power, director of strategic communications with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said police are restricted by the Young Offenders Act as to what details can be released.
She said complaints involving two separate victims were made to the RCMP on June 7 and June 16.
As a result, three charges of sexual assault were laid against the boy. She said she could not provide any information about the age of the boy or his alleged victims.
The teen appeared in a provincial court in the region in late August, but Power could not provide any information on any upcoming appearances.
On Wednesday, CBC reported that one of the alleged victims was an eight-year-old girl and that the alleged assaults took place on a school bus,
The girl’s mother and step-mother told the CBC that the incidents happened last fall but weren’t disclosed to them until June.
They say they went to the RCMP and the school right away and that the school took steps to ensure the boy would not continue attending the school.
In a statement emailed to The Western Star, the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District said it can’t speak to any specific incident that is under investigation, before the courts or subject to conditions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The statement said the safety and security of its students is of the utmost concern for the district.
“When a complaint is made regarding an alleged incident on board a school bus, it is within the authority of district staff to assess the complaint and remove the alleged perpetrator from the bus service while the investigation is ongoing,” said the statement.
It also said the potential also exists through the Schools Act to remove a student from school if the director of education believes the presence of the student is detrimental to the physical or mental well-being of students or staff, or there was a concern for safety and security in general.
It does not confirm that the accused teen was removed from the school or his current status.
The statement also says the district works collaboratively where possible with the province’s policing agencies to assist in the investigation of concerns identified.
“There has been a charge laid in this case and the matter is before the courts.”
On Thursday afternoon, a NLESD representative said the board’s CEO and director of education, Tony Stack, was not available to speak to anything more than what was contained in the statement.
News of the charges has prompted many to voice their concerns over school bus safety and at least one petition originating in the Bay of Islands has been posted to change.org. The petition is asking the school board to address the issue through installing closed-circuit television cameras on buses, having paid or volunteer monitors buses or segregated buses for primary/elementary and junior high/high school students.
