Sexual exploitation charges against Hepburn teacher stayed

Charges of sexual exploitation against a former teacher at Hepburn School were stayed this week.

The case against Ryan Hutchinson began when the Rosthern RCMP received a complaint in June of 2021, and in January of 2022 he was charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a young person. Police said Hutchinson was 34 at the time the charges were laid.

A two-day trial was set to begin this week in a Rosthern courtroom, but according to Hutchinson’s lawyer, Ron Piché, the Crown made the decision to stay the charges just one day before the trial was set to begin.

Piché couldn’t say why the Crown made the decision, but explained that charges are stayed either when the Crown sees no reasonable likelihood of conviction or determines that proceeding with the case is not in the public interest.

He noted that sexual exploitation cases require the Crown to prove that the accused was in a position of trust or authority.

“It really did hinge on this issue of position of trust, and one would assume a teacher-student relationship would trigger that position of trust, but every case is a little bit different and it’s a fairly nuanced area of the law,” Piché said in an interview with 650 CKOM.

He said the defence position was that “the position of trust that one would normally assume with that kind of relationship in our view was simply not there.”

Piché said Hutchinson was a well-liked teacher who has lost his profession and his reputation as a result of the charges.

“He was obviously very relieved with the outcome,” Piché said. “The issue now for him going forward is, does he want to get back into that teaching role? I think he’s just letting things settle right now and (he’s) going to make decisions once the dust settles on this.”

Piché said Hutchinson co-operated with an internal professional discipline investigation, but noted it was put on hold.

“His future’s still basically in limbo over there,” the lawyer said. “There should be some clarity now, in light of the decision to stay the charges.”

Hepburn is about 45 kilometres north of Saskatoon.