Lloyd Whitehorne, an elementary school teacher from Port aux Basques alleged to have had an intimate relationship with a 13-year-old girl, has been acquitted of charges of sexual assault and sexual interference.
Judge Catherine Allen-Westby delivered her decision on the case in provincial court in Corner Brook Monday morning, one month after a three-day trial in early September.
The judge believed there were inappropriate conversations via electronic devices between Whitehorne, 41, and the young girl and that he did nothing to discourage those conversations from continuing. At trial, Whitehorne had denied he had sent some of those messages, which indicated plans for the two to meet secretly.
However, Allen-Westby said there was reasonable doubt about whether any inappropriate physical contact had ever taken place between the two. The judge based that decision primarily on inconsistencies between what the girl had told police and her testimony in court during the trial.
- The Western Star
