Kelowna teacher's lesson on arousal misunderstood, says defence lawyer

Photo: Castanet

FILE- The Kelowna courthouse where a luring trial is underway.

It’s yet to be decided whether or not a former Kelowna teacher is guilty of trying to engage one of his former students in a sexual relationship, but both his lawyer and Crown counsel appear to be on the same page about his methodology.

“Nothing about this is laudable or should get him a teacher’s award,” defence lawyer Karen Bastow said during closing submissions in Jeffrey Jennens' child luring trial.

But, Bastow cautioned, that doesn’t mean he broke the law.

At the heart of the case is a series of messages Jennens sent to a teenage student May 12, 2023. These messages, Bastow said, weren’t sent with an intention to gain sexual gratification despite what may seem to be the case.

Jennens told the student while they were on a late night Instagram chat that they “turned (him) on a lot” and that he wanted to see her breasts. He also said “I like seeing you in a mini skirt and I like it when you touch my knee and I like it when you talk about my (c*ck) lamp."

All these messages, Bastow said, were offered as part of some greater teaching moment.

“He was not turned on by the complainant’s breasts. He was not naked (in the hottub)… He was not turned on by her mini skirt, and he did not get sexually aroused when she touched his knee,” Bastow said.

“He testified those were all lies, and that the reason that he said these things was to lay the groundwork for the lesson. The lesson being, take those photos down as they have the effect of arousing men.”

Bastow pointed out that logic may dictate that someone in Jennens’ position may have gone the route of telling the student’s parents or simply saying take the photos in question down.

“Mr. Jennings said that had he gone to (the student’s) parents, it would have broken trust, and would have had not been able to make the point that he wanted to make,” Bastow said.

Bastow also pointed out that while the two had a long history, it didn’t meet the bar for grooming, a case that Crown counsel was trying to make.

In the two years they knew each other, Bastow indicated they had many harmless back-and-forths and even the student was surprised when the conversation in May 2023 took a strange turn. That, Bastow, implied that the relationship was not founded in something nefarious.

“Mr. Jennens is never going to teach again ... but that doesn’t mean it’s a criminal offence,” she said.

Crown counsel Catherine Rezansoff framed the situation differently, indicating that the connection between the two veered toward grooming.

She pointed out that Jennens clearly took a keen interest in the student, getting her into the JumpStart program at Rutland Secondary School, driving her to and from appointments and even going so far as to buy the student a bike, which she later repaid him for.

The prosecutor highlighted months of messages between the two, pointing out that they traversed appropriate boundaries both in content and in the time in which they were sent.

Starting in October of 2022 and carrying on regularly until the incident in May of 2023, the two spoke about everything from outfits, to breakups, playing video games and the need for emotional support. Some conversations were in the afternoon but others were as late as 11 p.m.

It may be fine to take an interest and be there in a special way for a student, she said, but it’s not OK to take that bond and make a sexual relationship.

Jennens went “beyond what a teacher should be talking to a student about and this is more than just being there for his students,” Rezansoff said.

Jennens was “expanding their relationship instead of creating boundaries— and instead of creating boundaries, sending (the teen) to more appropriate resources, he was establishing deep connections, talking after hours, playing games and talking about other students watching that.”

Closing submissions continued Monday afternoon.