A former pastor at Calgary’s Western Baptist Church denied sexual abuse allegations laid against him during the second day of trial on Tuesday.
Thomas Larry Jones is charged with indecent assault of a female, three counts of gross indecency, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference and two counts of sexual exploitation.
READ MORE: Former Calgary pastor charged with historic sex assaults
The abuse allegations date back to 1979 and 1986, when two young victims were five and nine years old. The abuse continued until they were 15 and 18, allegedly occurring both at the church and his home.
Watch below: Global’s April 2014 coverage of the case from Global’s Sarah Offin
Jones officially resigned as pastor of the church in the 1990s, which the Crown alleges was motivated by complainants coming to light. He was charged in April 2014.
According to the former pastor, the move was actually to shelter the church from a bad public image.
“The congregation did not want me to leave,” Jones said in court Tuesday. “I left to protect the church.”
Both victims went to Western Baptist Church and Western Baptist Academy, a school running out of the church basement. Jones was both a pastor and teacher to the two girls.
Jones remained calm as he was pressed by the Crown on details going back decades—recalling exact details of some incidents, while unable to recall others.
The accused now lives in Carstairs, adamantly denies any wrongdoing and blames the victims for causing unnecessary stress to the church and defaming his name.
“I’m no longer a pastor, I own a crane business, I couldn’t care less,” Jones said.
The trial is set to continue all week.