Photo: File photo

A former elementary school teacher living in Vernon was convicted Friday of four separate sex assaults against minors, dating back to 1999.

Anoop Klair was charged in 2019 with four counts of sexual interference, three counts sexual assault and one count of sexual assault with a weapon, and his trial wrapped up last March.

Justice Murray Blok delivered his lengthy decision in Kelowna court all day Friday, ultimately convicting Klair on all eight counts.

While the nature of Klair's relationship with the four victims is protected under a publication ban to protect the victims' identities, the victims were between the ages nine and 13 at the time of the assaults, while Anoop was between the ages of 19 and 23. The assaults occurred between 1999 and 2003.

Three of the assaults involved the sexual touching of the young boys, while the fourth involved the penetrative use of some type of object, possibly a toilet plunger, in a boy's anus. Most of the assaults occurred in the Vernon area.

All four of the victims, now adults, didn't bring their allegations to police until October 2018. Klair resigned as a teacher on the same day the allegations were brought to police.

During trial, Klair completely denied the incidents happened at all.

But Justice Blok said Friday that the victims' testimony proved “credible and reliable,” and held up during cross examination. He noted that some small details of the allegations were inconsistent between their testimony and police statements, but he chalked that up to the lengthy period of time since the assaults occurred.

Klair dismissed some of the allegations against him as “nightmares,” but Justice Blok did not accept this explanation.

At the end of the trial in March, Klair's defence counsel applied to have the charges stayed completely, arguing the Crown had taken too long to get to get to trial, breaching Klair's Section 11b Charter rights. But Justice Blok dismissed the application Friday morning, ruling the trial had come to completion “well below” the maximum time limit set out by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Klair will likely face sentencing on his eight convictions some time this summer, after a pre-sentence report is prepared for him.

Sexual interference carries a minimum sentence of one year in jail, as does sexual assault of a person under 16.