The Ontario Court of Appeal has switched the acquittal of a Toronto violin teacher to guilty verdicts on more than two dozen sexual and indecent assault charges.
In a unanimous decision, it says the trial judge erred in law by considering sexual intentions as a criteria for all the charges laid against Claude Trachy after female students reported he had ordered them to remove their shirts and bras when he measured them for violin shoulder rests.
Prosecutors had argued the judge oversimplified the allegations to focus exclusively on whether Trachy acted with a sexual purpose.
While the appeal court instituted guilty verdicts on sexual and indecent assault charges, it upheld his acquittal on a number of sexual interference and sexual exploitation charges, which do require sexual intentions for a conviction.