A Quesnel teacher, charged with three counts of sexual assault has been found not guilty on all three charges.
Ronald Norman Ball, a former secondary science teacher was charged with sexual interference, sexual assault and sexual exploitation after an alleged incident involving a student which occured in his classroom in March 2010.
Ball’s trial consisted of several days in Quesnel provincial court. The verdict was read Tuesday.
Judge Elizabeth Bayliff stated crown did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Ball was not in attendance when the verdict was read.
The court heard testimony in March from the alleged victim. She accused Ball of asking her for a hug, then sliding his hands down her back and touching her buttocks.
“He told me he missed me and asked for a hug,” she said.
“And I didn’t want to hug him anymore so I put my hands to my side.”
She begins to cry.
“He touched me,” she continued.
“He touched you where?” Crown prosecutor Jennifer Johnson asked.
“My bum,” she answered.
“And how did he touch it?” crown continued.
“He grabbed it,” she answered.
Defense questioned the alleged victim on her attendance in class, the fact she was failing science and her recollection of events.
“You missed 80 science classes since that last semester,” defence said.
“Let’s talk about truth. You were failing science. You were receiving phone calls at home.”
“I was going to pick up my mark,” alleged victim said.
“You knew you needed a good reason to get out of that class,” defence said.
“This would be a good reason... if it were true.”
“It is true!” victim stated firmly.
“I cry myself to sleep.”
Court also heard from an alleged witness who testified she saw the incident.
“We heard from one witness, one victim and the accused,” defence said in her closing statement.
“Going through the testimony of both [victim and witness] credibility and reliability were seriously compromised.
“There were significant inconsistencies.”
Crown pointed out a “child’s evidence is different than that of an adults” and said the in-discrepancies such as who left the class first and what the two youth did afterwards “was not relevant.”
Ball was found not guilty on all three counts.