Jail time for former Legacy Christian teacher who sexually assaulted student

Aaron Travis Benneweis stood behind prisoner’s glass on Thursday, wearing a grey jail-issued sweatshirt, as Judge Marilyn Gray imposed the sentence proposed by the Crown in Saskatoon provincial court.

Benneweis, 47, began serving his sentence on Jan. 4 after he asked to be taken into custody between his sentencing hearing and Thursday’s decision.

Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle sought a jail sentence in the range 45 days (the mandatory minimum for sexual exploitation) and six months, with a 30-month probation period after his release.

Benneweis pleaded guilty in October to sexual assault and sexual exploitation (while in a position of trust and authority as a teacher) against Jennifer Beaudry for seven separate assaults between 2008 and 2012.

Court heard Benneweis began grooming Beaudry — who argued successfully for a publication ban on her identity to be lifted — while he was her 32-year-old gym teacher and track coach at Legacy Christian Academy, a qualified independent Christian school in Saskatoon’s north end.

At the time, in 2008, the school was called Christian Centre Academy, and Beaudry was 13 years old.

Gray condemned Benneweis’s grooming behaviour toward a child he exploited, his characterization of the offence as an infidelity issue due to marital problems rather than devious sexual behaviour, and the school and church’s coverup attempt.