EDMONTON – A city hip-hop dance instructor has been found guilty of sexual exploitation for pursuing a relationship and having sex with a student 11 years younger than him.
Oliver Nino Damaso was 27 when he seduced his 16-year-old student over a number of months.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Darlene Acton concluded that Damaso built an “exploitative relationship” with the girl that started shortly after they met and lasted until they had sex a year later.
“Mr. Damaso insinuated himself into a young person’s life, slowly and insidiously, to get her to a place where she was alone and available for sexual activity,” Acton said. “He set her up.”
Damaso’s victim cannot be identified.
The two met in the summer of 2008 when the teen began weekly dance classes under Damaso’s instruction at the 3rd Street Beat studio. She thought highly of him as a teacher, they entered into a friendship and eventually became what she described in testimony as “best friends.”
However, the teen told court last month, Damaso would occasionally make her uncomfortable with sexually explicit texts to her phone. “I would get a weird feeling in my stomach. It felt wrong. It creeped me out. There were times when the conversation would turn in a direction I wasn’t comfortable with.”
Acton noted that Damaso would apologize when the teen became upset, but would later continue his advances.
The relationship culminated in sex in the basement of the teen’s Sherwood Park home while her parents were out of town. He asked the teen to give him a tour of the house.
“He knew no one was home and I find he took advantage of that fact,” Acton said. She said that Damaso never could have taken advantage of the girl if he hadn’t spent the past year setting the groundwork.
Court heard the pair were having consensual sex when the teen told Damaso to stop. He did, though he testified that he then asked her if she was OK, while she testified he told her it was OK.
Moments later, they were interrupted by one of the teen’s relatives ringing the doorbell.
The interruption “made it impossible to know what he would have done,” Acton said as she found him not guilty of the corresponding charge of sexual assault.
Acton noted that the pair did not have a usual teacher-student dynamic because the dance class did not mark attendance or issue grades. The class was more like a workshop, Acton concluded. Damaso was not in a position of authority over the teen, but still exploited her, the justice said.
Crown prosecutor Maria Caffaro said she was satisfied with the decision. She thanked the teen for being courageous enough to come forward and later testify.
Defence lawyer Mark Facundo said Damaso was “surprised and disappointed,” by the guilty verdict. He said his client will consider an appeal.
Under Canadian law, it is not illegal to have consensual sex with a 16-year-old.
Damaso will be sentenced in early 2012. He is not in custody.
The charge of sexual exploitation carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The minimum sentence is 45 days.
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