He broke open the case against Tony Humby. He died after testifying

A young man who was the catalyst for a police investigation into accused sexual predators Tony Humby and Bruce Escott has died.

His statement to police in November of 2022 echoed what the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had suspected for three years — that vulnerable teens were being sexually abused and exploited in a trailer park near the airport on the outskirts of St. John’s.

In an interview with CBC Investigates, the young man’s mother said her son felt he had to come forward to protect others, but he struggled to live with the abuse he said he endured.

“Tony Humby killed him,” she insisted. “He didn’t put a gun to his head, but if it wasn’t for what happened to him, [my son] would still be alive.”

CBC Investigates isn’t revealing the young man’s name, age, or exactly when he died, in keeping with court-ordered publication bans in the ongoing case against 65-year-old Tony Humby.

Humby has pleaded not guilty to 88 charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, human trafficking and more. His trial on 71 counts involving 10 complainants is scheduled to continue later this week. The Crown is expected to rest its case by the end of January.

The young man moved into a group home with other boys when he was around 12 years old. 

He’d later testify in court it wasn’t long before one of the boys brought him to a mobile home near the airport — a place where they could “just chill out,” he testified, “until it turned into something different.”

All three youths who were there that night told the court they’d been smoking weed and drinking alcohol in Humby’s kitchen. Humby began making sexual remarks, they said, and then asked them if they needed money.

The alleged incidents that followed haunted the young man for the rest of his life.

He told the court painful details over three days of testimony, saying he was coerced by money, drugs and alcohol at times. He said he was raped by force on another occasion.

He struggled to keep his composure, storming out on the first morning of his testimony. He returned days later, corroborating details of the stories told by the other two young men who were at Humby’s mobile home with him.

He endured a combative cross-examination in which he was grilled over inconsistencies between his statements to police and his testimony in court — namely whether Humby “tried to” rape him, or actually did it.

There was a palpable sense of relief when the young man finished his testimony last fall.