LANIGAN, Sask. — Eleven Saskatchewan teenagers — nine of them too young to be identified — face 39 charges in a hazing incident that happened despite a warning to parents.
RCMP said Monday that the charges include assault, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
The alleged victims had severe bruising and one boy had muscle damage to his leg and buttocks.
Sgt. Craig Cleary said police were called after a bush party Sept. 6 outside the community of Lanigan, east of Saskatoon.
The party was a freshman gathering that police said included the hazing of some Grade 9 and 10 students by high school seniors.
“Some of those hazing rituals included such things as pouring of chocolate syrup, eggs, flour on some of the students,” Cleary said.
“The ones that definitely concerned us of a more severe nature were those involving a paddle and that paddle was a modified goalie hockey stick with the blade cut off. That paddle was used in assaulting a number of different male youths that had attended to the party.”
Cleary said there were more than 150 people at the party.
Nine of the accused and the victims are boys. Two of the accused are 18-year-old men.
Cleary said police are aware of five alleged victims, but believe there are more teens who haven’t or won’t come forward.
“The police investigators are speaking to a lot of the students, but the level of co-operation from the families of the potential victims isn’t quite the same as the ones that have actually come forward,” he said at Saskatchewan RCMP headquarters in Regina.
“If any more victims do come forward, obviously they would be spoken to and if there’s enough evidence to lay a charge, then charges would be laid.”