Teacher
jailed 14 days for affair with 17-year-old student
Kate Webb, The Province
Published: Sunday, July 01, 2007
Discredited teacher Gordon Belec, 36, appeared sombre yesterday
as a Port Coquitlam judge sentenced him to 14 days in jail
for engaging in a relationship with a Terry Fox Secondary
student.
Judge Joanne Challenger ordered Belec to register as
a sex offender and to attend a sexual offender treatment
program.
Belec, who pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a
minor in April, was also put on 18 months probation.
The student, who cannot be named under the law because
of her age, was 17 when their relationship developed last
summer.
She told the court in May that she was not victimized
by her former Grade 11 English teacher, and intends to
pursue a relationship with him. She sat in the back corner
of the courtroom with her mother during the sentencing.
Belec will serve his time on weekends. Having lost his
position as a teacher, he now works as an electrical apprentice.
His ex-wife also attended the sentencing. The couple
were married for 10 years and have a two-year-old son.
"He's always had very strong relationships with students,
particularly female students, which I have always found
inappropriate, and I had mentioned that to him several
times," she said, after requesting not to be named.
The judge listed several mitigating factors for imposing
the minimum allowable jail sentence including Belec's
open admission of the offence once caught and the fact
that he seemed to her to be of "otherwise good character."
kwebb@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007 |
