Judge adjourns 2nd trial for former principal of Saskatoon private Christian school accused of assault

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/duff-friesen-legacy-christian-academy-assault-trial-1.7634018

A Saskatoon judge sent dozens of potential jurors home after adjourning the trial for a former principal of Legacy Christian Academy accused of hitting students with a wooden paddle.

Duff Friesen faces seven counts of assault. The trial was set to begin with jury selection Monday in the Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench.

At a pre-trial hearing an hour before the trial was scheduled to start, Friesen’s lawyer Daniel Mol asked Judge Daryl Labach for an adjournment so he can make an application seeking school records of students from Legacy Christian Academy.

Labach said he was left with no choice and “reluctantly” adjourned the trial to an unspecified date.

Then the judge and lawyers moved into the courtroom next door where dozens of people called for jury duty waited for the selection to start. Labach thanked everybody for their time and dismissed the jury pool.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday to determine the trial’s new dates, but it likely won’t resume until 2026.

The trial would have been Friesen’s second one this year connected to his time at the private Christian school.

Friesen’s first trial ended in May with the jury acquitting him of three of four assault charges. Friesen’s lawyer said they will appeal the one conviction.

There is a court-ordered ban on publishing any evidence from the first trial ahead of Friesen’s second jury trial.

Friesen was a principal at Christian Centre Academy, which was later renamed Legacy Christian Academy, then Valour Academy. The school is closely associated with Mile Two Church, now called Encounter Church.

He’s one of three men connected to the school that have been charged with or convicted of assault.

In July, the school’s former director John Olubobokun was found guilty on nine counts of assault with a weapon for using a wooden paddle to hit students. Sentencing submissions are scheduled for Oct. 8 in a Saskatoon provincial court.

Olubobokun was director at Christian Centre Academy for four years starting in 2003.

Ken Schultz, a former director and vice-principal at Christian Centre Academy, is charged with assault with a weapon for allegedly striking students with a wooden paddle in the early 2000s. He is also charged with sexual assault.

A resolution was expected in the case in May after Schultz re-elected to have a trial by judge alone instead of a jury trial. Schulz now has two trials scheduled, one in October and one in May 2026.

In July, a Saskatoon judge dismissed a $25-million class action lawsuit launched in 2022 against Legacy Christian Academy and Mile Two Church. A Court of King’s Bench judge said the plaintiffs failed to disclose previous settlement agreements with three defendants named in the suit.