Teacher remembered different ways
SEX WITH STUDENTS: Tom Ellison was 'persistent' in his advances, testifies one woman; 'young and cool,' claims another
Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Sunday, October 15, 2006

The emotionally charged trial of a former high-school teacher who admitted to sexual activity with several female students ended its first week with fiery testimony from one ex-student -- and warm memories from another.

Tom Ellison's trial, which resumes tomorrow in Vancouver Provincial Court, is expected to produce more fireworks as one ex-student who dated him for 13 years -- and after the split pushed other complainants to tell their stories to police -- takes the stand this week.

Court is also expected to hear from an ex-student who was reportedly traumatized when her underwear was forcibly removed by Ellison and other male teachers in front of other students before ending up tacked to a classroom wall.

Judge Mark Takahashi is also to rule this week on a rare application to allow one complainant to testify without the public and media present.

Friday, court heard from three women who remembered Ellison, then a science teacher at Prince of Wales secondary who taught in the experimental Quest outdoor-education program, in different ways.

Janet Rygnestad, 39, who didn't engage in sexual acts with Ellison, was a Grade 11 Quest student in 1982. Her testimony was included to illustrate the "sexualization" of the program and the exploitation of female students, said Crown prosecutor Ralph Keefer.

Rygnestad told court a fellow classmate who had borrowed $5 from her later gave a five-dollar bill to Ellison to return to Rygnestad.

In front of a full class of Quest students, Ellison held the bill out of her reach and repeatedly asked her what the money was for, said Rygnestad, who agreed to waive the publication ban on her name.

"He waved it in my face and said, 'What's the going rate for a blow job these days?'" she testified. "This was in front of everyone. I just looked at him and said f--- you, and he dropped it on the floor and I walked out."

After she suffered an unexplained seizure on a later canoe trip, Ellison and the other teachers insisted Rygnestad get medical tests before continuing in the program.

She said the tests showed no medical problems but Ellison told her parents she would have to leave Quest, which she did.

Rygnestad, now working on a master's degree in microbiology and the mother of a 10-year-old daughter, also told court that before being dropped from Quest, Ellison had repeatedly asked her to help clean his liveaboard boat. It was docked at False Creek, where court heard a number of girls had met him for sexual trysts.

She testified she took that to mean "he was asking me to come down and have sex with him. He was persistent and I told him to f--- off."

Two other complainants, who told court they weren't willing complainants in the trial but became involved when police called them six years ago, were the first students to testify they had had sexual intercourse with Ellison.

One, now a 44-year-old married mother of two, said she had a casual sexual relationship with Ellison for four years after she had had oral sex with him on a summer camping trip to the Queen Charlottes after she graduated.

She admitted to having a crush on Ellison, then 36, during her Grade 11 Quest year because "he was just young and cool" and testified that on a sailing trip after Grade 11 Ellison fondled her, massaged her breasts and kissed her.

The gross indecency charge Ellison faces in her case relates only to the incident after the Grade 11 trip and not the four-year relationship.

It's one of 12 counts of gross indecency, which was later replaced in the Criminal Code by sexual assault, and four counts of indecent assault or sexual assault, Ellison faces. His lawyer said he wasn't disputing most of the allegations but would be challenging the constitutionality of the now-defunct gross indecency charge.

During cross-examination by defence lawyer Bill Smart, the complainant called her Quest experience "awesome" and said she continued a friendship with Ellison after they stopped dating. A decade later, he helped her flee an abusive first husband.

Another complainant, a happily married mother of three, testified Friday she had sexual intercourse with Ellison on his boat, again after graduation.

She remembered it lasted "a few minutes" and happened only once.

Like the other complainant, she had been fondled and massaged by Ellison on a pre-grad sailing trip. She said she didn't resist either incident but realized later she didn't tell anyone for years because "it wasn't right and I was embarrassed."

She added during-cross examination that Quest helped steer her away from alcohol and drugs she was involved with before the program, for which she was grateful.

The 63-year-old Ellison now lives in a common-law relationship with a former Quest student, with whom he has a nine-year-old daughter.

slazaruk@png.canwest.com