MONCTON – The crown concluded its case Wednesday at the trial of a Moncton teacher accused of sex acts with a student.
William MacGillivray is facing three charges for allegedly having sexual encounters with a female student.
He has pleaded not guilty to child luring, sexual exploitation while in a position of authority, and obstructing a police officer.
The jury heard from three witnesses during the day, which began with the cross-examination of the alleged victim in the case, who was a former student of MacGillivray’s.
READ MORE: Trial begins for Moncton teacher accused of sex acts with a student
She was under the age of 18 and a student at Harrison Trimble High School when the alleged incidents occurred and cannot be identified due to a publication ban. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between March and November 2013.
Defence lawyer Scott Fowler began by telling the witness he had taken notes during her testimony Monday and would be asking her a series of questions.
He then asked her about her mental state during the time the alleged encounters took place. She said she was feeling suicidal and had been seeing the school guidance counsellor. She also testified that she had been hospitalized twice for psychiatric issues, including one stay that lasted about a week.
Fowler then asked her details about her days at Harrison Trimble. She testified that she stopped going to her classes completely in May, but would still often sit in during MacGillivray’s classes because she felt safe there.
During further questioning, she testified that the Codiac RCMP had interviewed her in August and December of 2013 about her relationship with MacGillivray and she had lied about the encounters during the first interview. During the second interview, she said, she described the bedroom of the accused and drew a diagram for police.
The witness then broke down crying after nearly an hour of questions and the trial was adjourned for a morning break.
On return, Fowler asked the witness to identify a series of photos, which she could not. He then told her that they were photos the police had taken of MacGillivray’s bedroom after they had arrested him in December and asked her why certain aspects in the photos did not match her description of the room. She replied that she did not know and could not prove that the room had been changed from what she could remember.
During a series of questions about their sexual encounters, she told the court that she was infatuated with MacGillivray. She added that he had told her on several occasions that just because they had sexual contact did not mean that he loved her.
Throughout the testimony, MacGillivray sat in court with a suit and no tie, with his hands clasped and no expression on his face.
The testimony finished around 11 a.m.
Crown lawyer Maurice Blanchard then called the second witness, who is a friend of the alleged victim and also cannot be identified.
She testified that she was a student at Harrison Trimble during the time of the alleged incidents and had MacGillivray as a teacher.
She told the court that the alleged victim “spent a lot of time in his classroom, even though she wasn’t in the class.”
She also said her friend “was mentally unstable at the time. She was depressed. She was sad.”
She said the alleged victim had told her about the sexual encounters with MacGillivray, and on one occasion she had driven the alleged victim to the downtown Moncton area with the understanding the alleged victim was going to MacGillivray’s house.
During cross-examination she testified that she had never seen emails or text messages between the alleged victim and MacGillivray but had seen screenshots posted online.
Fowler also read back some of the statement the friend had made to police during the investigation, including advising them that the alleged victim was a “habitual liar.”
The Crown’s final witness was Cst. Marie-Eve Mackenzie-Plante, the investigating officer in the case. She testified she first opened an investigation in August of 2013 after receiving a phone call from the school board about suspected misconduct.
But, she said, she closed the investigation the same month after interviewing the alleged victim and believing there was no wrong-doing.
In October, she received another phone call from the school board asking her to investigate further. She did another interview with the alleged victim in December.
After that interview, she believed she had cause to arrest the suspect.
Throughout the case, there was no evidence of text messages shown to police. The Crown said this is because MacGillivray instructed the alleged victim to delete them all.
The defence is expected to make its case Thursday.
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