Jury trial begins for a former N.W.T. teacher facing multiple sexual offence charges

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it. 

A jury trial began in Yellowknife on Wednesday for a former Northwest Territories teacher, facing multiple sexual offence charges.

Neil Alexander Barry, now 49, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual exploitation. Barry worked as a teacher in Tulı́t'a and Fort Simpson, N.W.T., between 2007 and 2017.

The Crown alleges the sexual abuse involved four boys, then aged 16 to 18, their identities are protected by a court ordered publication ban. The Crown prosecutor says Barry allegedly committed the sexual offences between 2007 and 2011. 

The incidents allegedly occurred in Tulı́t'a around 2007, where Barry was a teacher and a basketball coach, and in Yellowknife in the summer of 2009 during basketball tryouts for the Arctic Winter Games. 

Barry was formally charged in June 2021, but his case was delayed when jury trials were postponed because of pandemic restrictions, after which Barry's lawyer went on parental leave. He is pleading not guilty to all charges.

In its opening statement, the Crown says while working as a teacher in Tulı́t'a, Barry often took boys into his house to help them with school and basketball and two of them ended up living with him and his wife at the time.

The Crown told the court that victims allege Barry would make sexual jokes, play games and drink with them. One alleges Barry performed oral sex on him during a basketball trip to Yellowknife.

Jurors also heard the agreed statements of facts.

This included testimony from Barry's ex-wife, Kathleen Barry, who told the High Level RCMP detachment in 2020, that "things happened" between Barry and the boys. The two separated in 2014. 

RCMP began investigating shortly after, and started taking statements from the complainants. One complainant told RCMP that the offences occurred in a hotel room in Yellowknife during the 2009 Arctic Winter Games basketball tryouts and that no other witnesses were present during the alleged incident. 

The Crown also said throughout the investigation, RCMP took more victim statements, and corroborated evidence with witnesses, hotel booking records, and game rosters under Barry's name.

An RCMP officer testified in court about her initial conversations with one of the complainants. She said she observed he was physically agitated, with "jiggly feet", while recounting the alleged incidents involving Barry. She said this behaviour subsided after talking about the incidents.

Barry's defence counsel argued that these reactions are not indicative of guilt or innocence.

The trial is scheduled to continue for the next two weeks.

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.