Winnipeg educational assistant appeals after being found guilty of sexually exploiting student

A former educational assistant found guilty of giving a teenage student liquor and drugs before sexually exploiting him is appealing her conviction and sentence.

Sheryl Ann Dyck was sentenced to 3½ years behind bars in June 2018 after court heard she had oral sex with the student at Winnipeg's Elmwood High School more than a dozen times in fall 2014, and sexual intercourse once.

Her lawyers, Saul Simmonds and Kris Advent, argued in a Winnipeg appeal court Monday that Dyck's previous lawyer botched the job, resulting in an unfair trial.

Simmonds argued to a three-judge panel that the trial lawyer, Gisele Champagne, hadn't effectively cross-examined witnesses on key issues such as collusion. He said she'd failed to drill down on dates when Dyck and the student could actually have met or dig into inconsistencies in witnesses' stories.

"It was doomed to failure, in my view, from the outset," Simmonds said.

Crown attorneys Renee Lagimodiere and Deborah Carlson shot back the suggestion another lawyer could have done a better job shouldn't justify an appeal.

Relationship started with drugs, convenience stores

Dyck was 42 when she started smoking marijuana and going to convenience stores with the teen in March 2014, court heard during her 2018 trial. The student was 16 at the time and turned 17 during their relationship.

During the trial, court heard their contact progressed as Dyck gave the teenager other drugs, alcohol and money and the two began having oral sex in public places in September 2014.

That progressed to sexual intercourse before the boy's mother found out and complained to the school. Dyck was suspended from her job, but continued to see the student and was caught on video buying liquor with him during school hours.

During Dyck's sentencing hearing, the victim told court there has been a ripple effect on his life. He stopped going to school and said every step forward felt like multiple steps back.

Dyck's lawyers also appealed her 3½-year sentence, which they argued was "harsh and excessive."

Advent suggested it was influenced by a misunderstanding on the part of trial Justice Richard Saull about the length of the sexual relationship between Dyck and the student.

The appeal was heard by Manitoba Court of Appeal Justices Diana M. Cameron, Jennifer A. Pfuetzner and Janice leMaistre.

They have reserved their decision.