It would have been Michael Deeb’s first appearance in a London courtroom Monday morning.
But the former police services board member and local principal, who faces charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation, didn’t appear at the courthouse; one of his lawyers, Gord Cudmore, said he didn’t have to.
Provincial police charged Deeb in April, in relation to a female student between 2000 and 2001. A day after those charges, Deeb resigned from his role with London’s police services board. He was already suspended from that post after allegations of sexual harassment made in late December by a local teacher and poet, Najwa Zebian.
In a post on Facebook, Zebian outlined how she’d been trying to establish herself as a new teacher in the community and that Deeb was a principal at a local high school. He was twice her age, at the time of the alleged behaviour.
Zebian said he took advantage of his position of power, and an emotional dependency she felt at the time.
Deeb’s other lawyer, Faisal Joseph, issued a statement after Zebian went public, saying the Thames Valley District School Board did an independent investigation that discredited her allegations.
The investigations and its findings have not been made public, and Zebian’s allegations have not been proven in court. A day before she delivered the keynote speech at an International Women’s Day event, she was served with legal notice of intent to sue for defamation.
Zebian’s allegations aren’t linked to the case that is now before the courts.
On Monday, a judge placed a publication ban on the complainant and any information that could identify her.
Deeb’s next court date is May 28, and Cudmore doesn’t expect he’ll appear in person then either.
At the time the charges were laid, the Thames Valley District School Board said Deeb was on a leave of absence.
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