Former Anglican priest David Norton was supposed to be a role model, but an agreed statement of facts read out in a London, Ont., courtroom Wednesday describes how starting in 1991, the now 72-year-old man took advantage of his relationship with a young boy.
Norton last week pleaded guilty to sexual interference involving a boy who was under 14. On Wednesday, crown prosecutor Christopher Heron read out the agreed statement of facts during a hearing for the former priest and university professor.
A single mother introduced her nine-year-old son to Norton in 1991, so that the young boy would have a man in his life to look up to, Heron told court. The victim cannot be named by court order.
They spent time alone together at Norton’s home, at his church, and inside his truck and trailer, and on camping trips they took together across Ontario, the crown said.
According to the statement of facts, during these trips, the two would go skinny dipping together, they’d cuddle in bed so Norton could keep the boy warm, and Norton would perform sexual acts on the victim, including fondling and fellatio. The crown also said Norton taught the victim to French Kiss, and how to drive while fondling him.
The crown said their relationship continued until the boy started high school, and his peers started to tease him about his relationship with the older man. At this point, the crown continued, the victim started making excuses not to spend time with Norton. The boy eventually told his mother he didn’t want to see the priest anymore, the crown said. That’s when the relationship came to an end.
It wasn’t until the victim was an adult, and until he heard of other charges against Norton, that the victim reported what happened between 1991 and 1995 to police, the court heard.
Norton’s defence counsel, Gord Cudmore, told the judge that he agreed with the statement of facts as presented, but added that there was never any kind of violence.
Outside the courthouse, he clarified his remarks in court to reporters.
“By definition, any sexual assault or sexual interference is a form of physical violence and we concede that and I’m not trying to deny that,” Cudmore said. “All I was saying was, that beyond that physical violence, there is no other gratuitous or strenuous violence that we sometimes see in these cases.”
A pre-sentence report was ordered, and Norton will next appear in court regarding the sexual interference charge on May 23.
Meanwhile, Norton faces trial on separate sexual assault charges starting April 16. Norton was charged in 2015 with sexually abusing three First Nations boys between 1977 and 1983.
Cudmore wouldn’t comment about the other charges.
In 1997, Norton was an Anglican priest at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in the Chippewa of the Thames First Nations reserve. He retired in 2011.
Norton also worked as a part-time professor in the history department of King’s University College in 2003, and was put on a leave of absence.
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