Ex-teacher still puzzled by his actions
'If I don't get that cleared out of me, I don't know if I will ever do
anything useful again,' he tells a court
Tom Ellison
Photograph by : Bill Keay/Vancouver Sun
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
A former teacher on trial for sex-crimes said Thursday he has tried for
years to understand why he bedded more than a dozen students at Prince
of Wales high school in the 1970s and 1980s but he's never been able to
explain it.
"If I could come up with a reason why I did it then I could get on with
my life," Tom Ellison told B.C. Provincial Court in a final statement
as the defence concluded its evidence and the case was adjourned for a
month. "I have worked that one over in my mind for years and years and
years.
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Special Report: The Tom Ellison Trial
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"If I don't get that cleared out of me, I don't know if I will ever do
anything useful again."
Now 62, Ellison told the crowded courtroom he may need help in
answering the "why" question that has been asked time and again during
his three-week trial, which heard testimony from 12 complainants, 11 of
whom said he seduced them or made sexual advances when they were teens
attending the respected west-side school.
He said he had six other teenage sex partners who haven't come forward.
"I've never come up with one reason. There's just a whole bunch of
reasons it happened," Ellison said.
The trial is expected to resume Nov. 20 with lawyers making final
arguments on the 12 charges of gross indecency and four charges of
indecent assault laid in 2004. His lawyer, Bill Smart, has said he will
argue Ellison's actions were unprofessional but not illegal at the
time.
Judge Mark Takahashi is expected to rule on the case Dec. 1.
In testimony Thursday, Ellison continued to insist all but one of the
teenagers who had sex with him were willing participants. Although he
acknowledged he was often their first sex partner, he described several
of them as "aggressive" in bed and said the encounters were memorable.
Under questioning from prosecutor Ralph Keefer, Ellison recalled many
details about sex with students on his boat, the Nostradamus, while it
was moored in False Creek or while he and students were on summer
sailing trips to the Queen Charlotte and Gulf Islands.
The trips were arranged during the school year and the students -- most
of whom had just finished a semester in the school's elite outdoor
education program called Quest -- paid a fee to participate.
"That night was one of the nicest, memorable nights with a woman . . .
we both participated equally," he said of his first sexual encounter
with Bridget Ross while sailing to the Queen Charlottes. "She was
reciprocal in every way. It was vivid for years."
Ross, who asked the court to lift the publication ban on her name, had
testified earlier that she was "shocked" at the age of 17 when her
teacher, who was twice her age, made advances. "I did nothing," she
recalled, although she admitted she was flattered and later had a
13-year relationship with him.
Ellison sarcastically described Ross's testimony as "amazing."
"I don't mean to be smart-alecky but Bridget and I were up for four or
five hours that night with each other," he said, recalling that he was
tired the next day as steered the Nostradamus through a storm.
the sleazy story continues at --
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/features/quest/story.html?id=d5dfe9fe-eb12-47c4-88bf-6aac55ff2b5e
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