Former Regina teacher found not guilty of sex crimes against student

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Jeffrey Dumba was found not guilty of sexual offenses against a former student at Regina High School, where he once taught.

King’s Bench Justice Neil Robertson handed down the judgment on Tuesday morning dismissing all charges against the now 52-year-old.

Dumba was charged with five felonies, all occurring between June 23, 2021 and September 2, 2021.

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These included allegations that he invited, advised or provoked the alleged victim, who was under 16 at the time, to touch him for a sexual purpose.

Other charges alleged that he communicated with a minor to facilitate the commission of a crime, distributed sexually explicit material to a minor, and possessed child pornography.

The name of the complainant cannot be given due to a court-ordered publication ban.

Dumba’s trial began in June and Closing statements were made by the lawyers on October 28.

The communication at the center of the accusations occurred digitally, through social media and messaging. There is no dispute that the teacher had a sexual conversation with the complainant and shared obscene images with her.

testified She said Dumba knew from the beginning that she was a high school student in online chats and continued the sexual interactions after learning her full identity. testified He said she initially told him she was 20, and when she learned otherwise he cut off all sexual contact and disposed of all sexually explicit images of her.

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Both of their accounts were disputed by lawyers.

Robertson found that the Crown had not proven the elements of invitation to the offense of touching.

He found that the elements of the remaining crimes were established by the evidence, but also found that the “mistaken belief” defense that the girl was of age was open to Dumba.

Robertson found that Dumba had not taken “reasonable steps” to establish that the complainant was an adult before engaging in sexual intercourse with her, or at least that the Crown had failed to prove that he had not done so.

Based on the evidence, the judge ruled that Dumba learned the girl was underage in online communications after receiving a photo in which the girl “looked younger and looked familiar” and asked the girl again about her age.

“The complainant then told him who he really was,” Robertson said.

The judge said the final question he had to answer was whether Dumba, after learning the complainant’s real age, continued to share sexually explicit images with her, invited her to his home for the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse, or accessed child pornography.

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“I have a reasonable doubt about that,” Robertson said.

“Based on my findings, I deny all charges.”

More to come…

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