Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Warning: This story contains some details of sexual exploitation
Jennifer Beaudry has been waiting years for Aaron Benneweis to face consequences for his criminal actions.
Today she’s another step closer to justice.
Benneweis was a coach and athletic director at a private Christian school in Saskatoon formerly called Christian Centre Academy. The school is now known as Legacy Christian Academy.
Beaudry was a student and athlete at the school. She said Benneweis began making eyes at her in 2008, when she was 13 years old, and his behaviour escalated to secret meet-ups and sexual touching until 2012.
In October 2023, Benneweis pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and exploiting the teen.
His defence lawyer and a Crown prosecutor are expected to submit their arguments about what an appropriate sentence would be for Benneweis in Saskatoon provincial court on Thursday afternoon.
Beaudry told CBC News on Wednesday she feels ready to read her victim impact statement, which details how Benneweis’s actions changed her life, in front of him in court.
“I just really hope it hits him like a brick wall, in that this is a serious crime [he has] committed and whatever [his] excuses are, are garbage,” she said.
“I really want him to see how this has affected me. I want him to see the reality and the severity of his actions and his behaviours, and I want to let him know that I’m not OK with it.”
An undated photo of Aaron Benneweis on a sports field. (Submitted by Jennifer Beaudry)
Typically, the media cannot name victims of sexual assault, but Beaudry received permission from the court to have her name published so she could tell her story and fight for justice.
Beaudry hasn’t seen Benneweis since 2013 — the year she graduated and he was removed from the school. The offences were reported to school officials that year, after one of Beaudry’s friends told their mom what was happening.
The offences were then reported to Pastor Keith Johnson, the leader of the school and adjacent church at the time, and Beaudry was called in to tell the pastor and her parents what had happened.
Benneweis was removed from the school almost immediately and eventually moved away from Saskatoon with his family.
The pastor had encouraged Beaudry and her mother, who also worked at the school, to file a police report. However, they said the pastor told them to tell police that it began when Beaudry was 16, not 13, to make it “easier on Aaron” — and they obliged. Beaudry’s mom did not push for consequences.
Jennifer Beaudry waited years to have her experiences taken seriously and see the man responsible for exploiting her held responsible. (Kendall Latimer/CBC)
In August 2022, Beaudry went back to police and explained that the offences occurred when she was under the age of 16.
The police and Crown proceeded with criminal charges.
Whatever the judge decides, Beaudry said she won’t let that ruling define her healing.
“At the end of the day, my closure is not attached to the number of months or years that he gets at all. It’s him facing the accountability and responsibility.”
Benneweis’s lawyer sent a statement to CBC News after his client pleaded guilty, saying the former coach “has taken responsibility for the highly inappropriate relationship he had with a teenage athlete when he was in a position of trust over her.”
“He has never denied the inappropriate nature of this relationship and has taken responsibility for his actions since his immediate termination from his employment at the Legacy School in 2012,” defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle added.
Beaudry said trying to sum up the depths of her feelings as she prepared her victim impact statement was an emotional process.
“A lot of it, I’ve been realizing, is like a deep sense of anger — but anger for justice, not just simple rage, even though that would be an easy path to go to,” she said.
It led her to reflect on where she might have been in life had Benneweis never preyed upon her.
“It was also a big reality check in how this really, honestly has affected my life still to this day — my relationships, my previous decisions,” she said
“But it just all reminds me of why I’m doing what I’m doing, and I just have to fight this fight.”
Many others accused of inappropriate behaviour
Benneweis is one of four former school officials at the school facing criminal charges related to alleged conduct with students who attended the school and adjacent church.
A civil suit is also before the courts.
Many former students of the private school are seeking $25 million in compensation, as well as other unspecified damages. They also want an immediate and permanent closure of the school, and to permanently prohibit all of the defendants from working in schools with minors.
The people named were staff, volunteers, leaders or “elders” with the former Saskatoon Christian Centre Church and the Christian Centre Academy, now known as Mile Two Church and Legacy Christian Academy.
None of the allegations made in the proposed class-action lawsuit have been tested in court.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
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Credit belongs to : ca.news.yahoo.com
