Former Hamilton high school teacher sentenced to 2½ years in prison for sexual assault
CBC
A former Hamilton high school teacher was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Thursday for assaulting four former students between June 2002 and November 2015.
Brian Boyle, 54, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual interference.
Boyle was sentenced to 30 months in prison, has been put on the registered sex offenders list, is prohibited from owning a firearm or explosives for the next 10 years, and will have to submit his DNA to the national DNA database.
Boyle is prohibited from working with children under the age of 16 for the rest of his life.
The allegations against Boyle came out over social media last fall, and Boyle was arrested Nov. 3, 2021.
Pleading guilty in court Thursday meant Boyle gave up his right to a trial and sentencing was delivered the same day.
The lawyer representing the Crown, Gloria Huh, detailed what happened before impact statements were read out.
The assaults occurred at various locations over that 13-year span, including in Boyle's classroom, at the students' homes and at least once at a movie theatre. Court heard how several of Boyle's victims said they were in vulnerable positions as teenagers, with little family support, and that Boyle groomed and took advantage of them.
The court placed a publication ban on the trial to protect the identities of the four victims who came forward.
Justice Joe Fiorucci heard impact statements from four of Boyle's former students that detailed the physical and psychological abuses they suffered.
One victim told the court that she was silent about being abused by Boyle as a teenager, but decided to speak out when she discovered a family member was registered in his class.
"I have found my voice and I took back my power," she said.
Another victim spoke about the post traumatic stress disorder she has faced in the years since she was abused.
"I shouldn't have to feel your guilt or carry your shame, but I do," she told court.
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