A former Bentley-area woman accused of 15 years of sexual, physical and emotion abuse against her children was acquitted of all but one charge.
The now 63-year-old was found guilty of one count of assault causing bodily harm for a violent beating she gave to one of her sons, leaving him with two black eyes.
In his ruling Thursday in Red Deer provincial court, judge James Glass found her not guilty of 13 counts of assault, two counts of assault causing bodily harm and two counts of sexual assault.
The names of the four victims, two men now aged 40 and 36 and two women now aged 38 and 33, and their mother are protected by court-ordered publication bans. All four of the victims submitted sworn letters to Glass asking for the publication ban to be lifted.
Glass said he was unsure of the procedure and asked for defence counsel Dave Inglis and Crown Prosecutor Ed Ring to make submissions at the sentencing hearing.
The ruling comes after a three day trial that ran from June 22-24.
The incident the woman was found guilty of is one she admitted guilt to during the trial.
In his testimony the eldest son recalled coming to with his mother sitting on his chest repeatedly hitting him across the face. He said he had two black eyes, a split lip, multiple lacerations and bruises. The youngest son corroborated the incident saying he saw his brother get punched in the head and knocked out. The mother then dragged the eldest son into the living room, sat on his chest and hit him in the head repeatedly.
In her testimony at the June trial, the mother admitted to punching the 40-year-old and giving him black eyes.
“I felt so ashamed of myself for hitting my own boy,” she said at the trial. “I apologized to him many times about that.”
Glass cited two reasons to justify his not guilty findings, saying either the testimony from the victims — the woman’s four children — was unreliable, or the assault was disciplinary in nature. Because of when the incidents occurred, from 1983 to 1995, Glass had to rely upon an earlier definition of what constitutes use of force to correct a child’s behaviour. A ruling in 2004 changed the definition.
In most cases, Glass cited lack of corroboration of the victim’s testimony as a reason for his ruling. Though he had heard details of grisly incidents, he said they were not corroborated by third parties and there was some inconsistencies within the siblings testimony around dates, times and the nature of the use of force.
The family did have a discipline plan that included spankings with a wooden spoon, however Glass found this would have been an appropriate discipline measure under the law at the time.
The investigation started in 2011 when the youngest son came forward to RCMP in B.C. after hearing that his friend’s children had been sexually abused by their grandfather. Police collected statements from all four siblings and laid charges in 2013.
The woman’s sentencing hearing will be held on Sept. 24 in Red Deer provincial court.
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com