SASKATOON – A Saskatchewan teacher says she thought her sexual relationship with a former 16-year-old student was OK because he was at the legal age of consent and she was no longer the boy’s teacher. Erin Osmond, who is 29, is on trial for sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old boy in 2013.
Osmond was the boy’s English teacher for a semester at Winston High School in Watrous.
She testified she and the boy first had sex in mid-March of 2013 – her contract ended in February 2013.
Crown prosecutor Jaimie McLean quoted from several text messages sent between Osmond and the boy between January and March 2013.
Osmond agreed that the texts gradually got more personal because her relationship with the boy deepened over time.
By the time the married teacher’s contract was set to run out at the school, she said she and the boy had romantic feelings for each other.
A charge of sexual exploitation requires the Crown to prove that the accused was in a position of authority or trust over a person over the age of 16, but younger than 18.
McLean quoted a sexually charged text from Osmond to the boy dating from the day after her contract ran out.
She asked Osmond if it was an appropriate conversation for a then 27-year-old woman to have with a 16-year-old boy, a mere 24 hours after she’d been teaching him English.
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Osmond replied that she viewed the boy more as a boyfriend than as a teenager.
While she said she recognized the age difference, Osmond repeated that as far as she knew, the boy had reached the age of consent and she was no longer his teacher.
McLean went on to quote numerous texts, many of them sexual in nature, in which Osmond and the boy referenced their previous teacher-student relationship.
A handful of texts saw the boy refer to Osmond as his “sexy teacher.” In other texts, Osmond was quoted referencing the boy’s age, or calling him a “teenage boy.”
McLean brought up other texts where the boy and Osmond discussed the need to keep their relationship secret.
Osmond said her concerns were mainly about her husband finding out. She did acknowledge being worried that the “unconventional” relationship would damage her reputation as a teacher if word ever got out.
Final arguments will be heard on April 30.
READ MORE: Sex crime charges dropped against former Abbotsford teacher
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