Defence lawyers for former 琉璃神社 teacher Jeffrey Allan Jennens gave closing arguments in B.C. Provincial Court on April 14, claiming that although their client sent an underage student inappropriate messages, he did not commit a crime.
The former Rutland Senior Secondary teacher is facing charges for telecommunicating to lure a child under 18. The accused was arrested in May 2023 following an investigation by the 琉璃神社 Sex Crimes Unit regarding messages sent to a student on Instagram on May 12, 2023.
The student was 17 at the time of the alleged offence and is protected by a publication ban. The student will be referred to as A.P. in this story.
Defence lawyer Karen Bastow appeared by video to provide closing arguments in Jennens' trial.
Bastow agreed with Crown Counsel Catherine Rezansoff that the messages were sexual in nature, and earlier in the trial Jennens himself testified the messages were inappropriate, however, the defence argued that he had no intention of luring the student for sexual purposes and that Crown had not been able to prove otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt.
Crown told the court that Jennens had first seen a photo on the student's Instagram story on May 6, 2023, that he described as A.P. being "basically naked."
After Jennens sent a message to A.P. about the photo, the student replied, "I never expected you to look at my story, so I thought it would be alright," to which Jennens replied he would stop "snooping" at A.P.'s photos.
Instagram messages from May 12, 2023, submitted into evidence show communications initiated by Jennens at 7:32 p.m. asking the student if they were going out to party that night. Later in the evening of May 12, Crown argued that Jennens encouraged A.P. to open up about things and suggested that they keep the conversation private. The student put the conversation into vanish mode upon Jennens' request, an Instagram setting that deletes messages when a user closes the chat.
After hearing from A.P. about what Jennens described as dark and intense thoughts, Jennens sent a message asking if it was his turn to share, a statement he confirmed during testimony.
"At this point, he totally changed the conversation," said Rezansoff, noting to court that the conversation had not been sexual leading up to this point.
The messages sent from Jennens on May 12, 2023, include him stating he was looking at the student's photo on their story again and it "turned me on a lot," followed by messages of wanting to see more of A.P.'s body, such as he liked seeing A.P. in a mini skirt, liked it when A.P. touched his knee, and liked it when A.P. talked about his chicken lamp, which was discussed in court with the student previously commenting on the lamp in Jennens' classroom by saying, "Can I turn on your c**k?"
Crown argued that Jennens was grooming A.P. and "testing the waters" the evening of May 12 and that he is an unreliable witness as his statement to police, the evidence submitted, and Jennens' testimony in court are inconsistent.
Defence told the court that Jennens was attempting to teach the student a lesson about predatory behaviours online, but when the student disengaged from the conversation Jennens panicked and aborted his lesson attempt.
Crown rebutted the argument, stating that Jennens had the time and space to make the intentions of a "lesson" known but didn't. Instead, Jennens asked again about keeping the conversation private.
Crown reminded the court about numerous late-night conversations between Jennens and the student from October 2022 to May 2023. The messages in evidence show online communications between the accused and the complainant were sometimes initiated by Jennens, were often not on school-related topics, and at times didn't end until after 11 p.m.
In final statements, Rezansoff said charges of this nature are in place to prevent a secondary offence.
"He's lost his job as a teacher and he'll never work as a teacher again, but he's not a criminal," Bastow said in court.
Judge Cathie Heinrichs has yet to make a decision on the case. The trial continues on May 5.
