'He was scary': Manitoba teacher on trial for allegedly sexually assaulting 8-year-old girl

A former teacher in rural Manitobais on trial this week for allegedly sexually assaulting agirl several times when she was just eight years old.

On July 14, 2016, Remi Dallairewas charged with sexual interference, sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching and making sexually explicit material available to a child.

At the time,he wasa teacher at a school in Lorette,about 25 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg,part of theDivisionscolairefranco-manitobaine(DSFM).

On Wednesday,DSFMdeputy general director MarcoRattconfirmedDallairehasn't beenemployed by the division since the end of the 2015-16 school year, which coincides with when the alleged sexual assaults took place.

RCMPbelieveDallairecommitted a string ofsexual assaults on the girlfor weeks, starting near the beginning of June 2016 when the girl, her mother and sister moved into a new apartment across from his inLorette.

"He would do it a lot to me," the girl, then eight, told RCMPin a video-recorded 2016 interview in which she gave graphic details of sexual assaults,including when she says Dallaireshowed her porn and asked her to re-enact things in the video.

"He was scary."

Dallairehas pleaded not guilty to all four charges and "contested these allegations from day one," his lawyer Matt Gould said in an emailed statement.

"It is important to remember that he is innocent until proven guilty, and that the court has only heard the Crown's evidence to date," Gould said, declining to say whether Dallairewould testify in court.

"Mr. Dallaire maintains his innocence, and is putting his faith in the criminal justice system.My client hopes that the public does not assume guilt, based solely on the seriousness of the allegations."

Mothertestifies

The girl, now 10, and her motherwere among the witnesses Crownattorney Danielle Simardhad testify in court on Monday and Tuesday before Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ken Champagne in Winnipeg.

Neithercan be identified due to a publication ban.

On Monday, the girl's mother told court she developed a romantic interestin Dallairenot long after she met him.

They moved into the apartment suite across from his onJune 10, 2016. At the time, the girls were primarily living with their mother.

She said about a week after they moved in, Dallaire offered to walk her daughter to and from schooland look after her between the end of school and when she got home from work.

The mother said their familyquicklygrew close to Dallaire and they began seeing each other daily.

He bought her daughter gifts including toys, body sprays and mentioned he would buy her an iPod, she said.

"He was basically a role model, somewhat of a fatherly figure, they seemed to get along, they had a lot of similarities," she said, describing the relationship between her daughter and Dallaireearly on.

Mom interested in relationship with Dallaire

The mother was interested in a relationship with him and said the pair had one sexual encounter in her apartment.

"We were trying to be intimate and he couldn't get it up, and he basically said we should have [my daughter] here," the mother told court. "I was taken off guard,but I wasn't sure, like, if I heard exactly what he meant by that.

"I asked him if he was thinking anything sexual about her and he said, 'No,' and once he denied it, we didn't discuss it any further."

She said Dallairemoved out at the end of June 2016 when his lease was up and stayed with them for about a week before house-sitting for a co-worker across the street. Dallaire continued to spend time with her daughter, who she says spent several nights with him at his apartment and the home across the street.

He offered to look afterher on non-school days, the mother said, including when he took her "for an adventure" at a Winnipeg mall to go shopping and watch a movie on July 5, 2016.

The woman read out a text in court she said she receivedfrom Dallaireone night in July, when he described feeling suicidal and asked her to send her daughter over. She texted back"it would look really weird" and refused, court heard.

'You touched her'

Then, on July 13 of that year, the woman said her daughter's mood was off.

"She did say she was scared because she would get in trouble and it would be her fault," the mother said. "Basically she stated that Remi hurt her. And Iasked how, and she stated that he touched her and did a bunch of things to her."

She confronted Dallaire that night in person but he denied everything.

"'You touched her you son of a bitch.'I honestly wanted to beat the shit out of him. I was yelling, screaming at him," she recalled.

She read out texts she saidshe received from Dallaireafterward:

"I think we should try to figure outwhy she would say thator I will have no choice but to call CFS because those child need help and you are scaring them. If you want to make that false complaint against me, that child will be taken out of your custody, because I need to protect my reputation and will have to say everything you told me or your behaviour since I know you to defend myself. This is my last message."

Girl testifies

On Tuesday, the girl appeared in court with a social worker by her side and behind a barrier blocking Dallaire from being able to see her.

Video of thehours-long 2016interview between anRCMPofficer and the girl was played in court where she described how Dallaire bought her a stuffed cat,rings, other itemsand sexually assaulted her.

"He would always do these things when mom was not there," she said in the video. "He wanted me to keep things secret because he was buying me stuff."

She described rooms in Dallaire's apartment, and the home where he was house-sitting across the street, where she stayed for a few days. There, the girl told RCMP,Dallaire stripped her naked "because he wanted to touch his privates."

Dallaire later told RCMPthe girl wetthe bed but he never touched her. He alsodenied asking her to do things she told RCMP he showed her in a pornographic video.

'Slippery stuff'

The girl also told RCMPhow Dallaire"used some slippery stuff" from a purple bottle during a sexual assault at the home where he was house-sitting.

On Wednesday, 18-year veteran RCMPConst. Reginald Gordon Olson testified.

"We were live to the fact that we may find this purple lubricant container in the residence," said Olson, who has worked on the internetchild exploitation unit since 2010.

He described executing a search warrant at the home on July 14, 2016, when charges were laid against Dallaire.

He said he found an empty purplebox of personal lubricantin a black laptop bag belonging to Dallaire.

The trial resumes Thursday.