Former students of Legacy Christian Academy continued their testimonies Tuesday in Saskatoon court against a man accused of beating them with a wooden paddle at school.
Caitlin Erickson said former school director John Olubobokun hit her so hard with the cricket bat-like object that she had white welts and was bruised for weeks.
“When he would paddle me, he took his time with it,” Erickson said. “You would never know when the blows were coming.”
Erickson is the seventh of 11 Crown witnesses testifying against Olubobokun during his trial this week. He is charged with nine counts of assault with a weapon.
Erickson said she started attending Christian Centre Church, now known as Mile-Two Church, with her family when she was four years old.
She started attending school at the academy attached to the church in 1997.
“There was no difference between the church and school when I went there.”
She said anyone who left the church or school was ex-communicated, even if they attended another church or Christian school.
“As far as the hierarchy of churches in the city, we were the only one that was actually following God and we were the best church,” Erickson said of the view of the church leaders.
Erickson played volleyball throughout her time at the school and testified she was told she was “too expressive on the court” and received many paddlings for “having an attitude.”
She said any emotion shown that wasn’t happiness was perceived as having a bad attitude at the school.
“We were Christians, we are supposed to be excellent,” Erickson said she was told by school staff. “Any sort of negative emotion was perceived as disobedient.”
She said she also received a paddling after she was blamed for damage to a bathroom door allegedly done by Olubobokun’s daughter, who was on Erickson’s volleyball team.
“Every single time that that man hit me, I was left with a welt and bruising for weeks,” Erickson said. “I would shut down, disassociate and just try to get through it.”
She said she took detailed accounts of the alleged abuse in her childhood journal.
Defence lawyer Daniel Tangjerd asked to see the relevant pages, saying they would be helpful if they could corroborate what she was saying.
Tangjerd told the judge he had no more questions for Erickson after reviewing photocopied pages of her journal.
Erickson also testified about a time she went to visit fellow student Coy Nolin in the hospital.
Nolin testified Monday, saying he was hospitalized for several weeks and Olubobokun came to visit him unannounced, trying to pray over him.
He testified saying Olubobokun refused to leave when he asked him to and got into an argument with a nurse in the hall.
On her way to visit Nolin, Erickson said she overheard the conversation.
“Olubobokun was yelling something along the lines of ‘Do you know who I am, I have a right to be here,'” Erickson testified.
She said the argument got heated and the nurse called for security.
When Erickson returned to school, she said she was pulled into Olubobokun’s office, where he demanded the name of the male nurse who worked on her mother’s ward in the hospital.
Erickson said Olubobokun threatened her mother’s position in the hospital before she was paddled.
She said Olubobokun had forged a document written from Erickson’s perspective in which she appeared to be complaining about how the nurse treated Olubobokun at the hospital.
Erickson said Olubobokun tried to get her to sign it.
The last time Erickson claimed she was paddled she had accused a member of the church of sexually assaulting one of her classmates.
Erickson said the student approached her, saying he had been sexually assaulted.
Erickson said she was pulled into Olubobokun’s office after telling her council about the assault allegations and was told to apologize for “making a good family look bad.”
She said Olubobokun struck her with the wooden paddle so hard she peed her pants and had to wear long swim shorts to lifeguard camp to cover the bruises down the back of her legs.
Erickson took her complaints to police in June 2021 when she found out Olubobokun had opened and was running another Christian school.
“It took me a very long time not to be afraid of that man,” she said.
Over one year later, Erickson led the launch of a $25-million class-action lawsuit against Mile-Two Church and Legacy Christian Academy’s former staff members, alleging the physical and sexual abuse of the school’s students.
The trial is expected to continue for the remainder of the week.
Comments