'It surprised me her underwear came off'
Former Quest mentor Tom Ellison takes stand in indecent-assault trial
Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Wednesday, October 25, 2006

A former teacher testified at his sex-crimes trial yesterday that he was "surprised" when he pulled the underwear off of a struggling female student in a classroom.

Tom Ellison took the stand for the first time in his own defence yesterday, disputing the testimony of one of the complainants in his trial and explaining one case of indecent assault as accidental.

Ellison, 63, was responding to questioning by his lawyer, Bill Smart. He testified he ripped off the then-15-year-old's underwear without meaning to.

Ellison was challenging the testimony of a 39-year-old woman who earlier in the trial said Ellison, then 39, pinned her arms while a second Quest teacher, Stan Callegari, ripped her underwear off as she struggled in the back room of a classroom at Prince of Wales high school, in front of several classmates.

The woman told court she was "degraded and embarrassed," especially after returning to the class and finding her underwear ripped in two and tacked to the wall.

Two friends of the girl each recalled the event differently, as did Ellison.

Ellison testified he -- not Callegari -- removed the girl's underwear without meaning to.

He said he was trying to give a wedgie to the girl, who was wearing a mini-skirt.

"It was never meant to be anything more than that," he said.

"I remember getting a hold of her gonch, her underwear, and she pulled down to the floor and I did have her underwear in my hand, there's no doubt about that," he told the Vancouver Provincial Court trial before a packed public gallery.

"I remember standing up by the bookshelf and the kids were in the room and I had her underwear in my hand.

"I remember thinking, 'This is different.' I didn't expect to have her underwear in my hand.

"It surprised me that her underwear came off," said Ellison, who said he didn't know what happened to them next.

Ellison also denied Callegari or Quest teacher Dean Hull, whom the former student said held the door, were there.

"That just never happened," he testified.

Ellison said Callegari called him two years ago, worried he would lose his teaching job because the former student had accused him of giving her a gonch pull.

"I told him, 'I won't perjure myself but if you want to fight it, I'll tell the truth,'" he said.

Callegari was fired by the Vancouver School Board in 2005 and he and Hull, who was dismissed by the Surrey School Board in 2004, are being investigated by the B.C. College of Teachers.

It's not known why either teacher was let go.

The tall and excessively thin adventure guide appeared poised on the stand, except when his face reddened and his lip quivered as he paused before answering a question about his mother, who died of multiple sclerosis when he was 13.

Crown prosecutor Ralph Ellison read the revised list of charges into the record. Ellison has pleaded not guilty to four counts of indecent assault and 12 counts of gross indecency, eight of which are allegedly consensual sex acts, against 12 students between 1972 and '82.

Smart said yesterday Ellison "generally accepts their descriptions of the acts that occurred," except for one.

Referring to Complainant No. 4's testimony, which included fondling of her breasts and digital penetration and smoking marijuana with her, Ellison said: "There was never, ever, ever one time when I was sexual with [her]. I never smoked dope with a student."

Ellison also took exception to an earlier suggestion that Quest was a cult. "There was no thought of it being a cult, ever," he said.

Raising his voice and cutting off his lawyer's next question, Ellison continued: "You know that really is the worst thing someone can say about the program. It was anti-cult."

Ellison said one of the speakers regularly brought in to talk to the students was a former Moonie who told them what to look for in a cult.

Ellison also spoke of his love of teaching and the outdoors and how he became passionate about environmental issues after taking education at the University of B.C.

Four of the five defence witnesses testified they have remained close friends with Ellison and had positive memories of the Quest program and his teaching. None could recall any sexual activity between him and students.

Asked under cross-examination if they would have considered any sex acts with students inappropriate, at least two said they would have.

slazaruk@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2006