ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A St. John’s high school teacher charged with sexually exploiting a student will go to trial in March 2021.
Krysta Grimes stood in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court as she was arraigned Tuesday morning, responding with a clear “not guilty” through a face mask after the clerk read the charge aloud and asked for a plea.
Prosecutor Jacqueline MacMillan told Chief Justice Raymond Whalen she expects Grimes’ trial to take about five days. Grimes has elected a jury trial.
Court documents reveal the Crown alleges Grimes, 33, used a part of her body to touch the body of a student for a sexual purpose between March and June 2018, while she was in a position of trust. She was suspended from teaching duties by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District and was charged last year after an RNC investigation. She has been ordered to have no contact with the student and to stay away from him.
The complainant's identity is protected by a publication ban.
A day-long preliminary inquiry into Grimes’ case was scheduled to happen in provincial court last month and would have seen a judge determine whether or not there was sufficient evidence to send the matter to trial. Grimes waived her right to the inquiry, and the trial was ordered.
The province’s Supreme Court is currently hearing jury trials in St. John’s in one courtroom only: a space established at the former St. John’s School for the Deaf, which offers room to proceed with jury selection and the trial while complying with social-distancing rules.
While the court had January dates available for the trial, MacMillan and defence lawyer Ian Patey had no co-ordinating openings in their schedules. Grimes’ trial was scheduled instead for the spring, immediately following the jury selection process due to take place March 29.
