Trial of former N.S. teacher facing sex charges hears from alleged victims

Carolyn Amy Hood, a former teacher at Thorburn Consolidated, is seen here.

Caution: the nature of some of the testimony may be offensive to some and may not be appropriate for children.

The trial of a former Nova Scotia school teacher, charged with sex offences involving two former students, has heard from the alleged victims on Thursday.

Carolyn Amy Hood arrived alone at the Pictou Courthouse Thursday morning for day four of her trial.

Hood has been charged with one count of sexual assault, one count of sexual interference, two counts of luring minors over the internet for a sexual purpose, and two counts of sexual exploitation of a young person.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Pictou District RCMP started investigating Hood in the fall of 2013 after receiving a complaint from Thorburn Consolidated School.

The 40-year-old Stellarton woman was arrested in January 2014 following an 11-week police investigation.

The charges date from March through September of 2013 and allege sexual contact with two boys -- one under the age of 16 and the other under 18.

The first alleged victim testified after having her as a teacher, she started texting him in grade nine.

The teen told the court he was flattered, and the texts eventually became sexual in nature.

He testified the texts led to her performing oral sex on him in his parents’ driveway.

The second alleged victim also testified he was flattered when Hood began sexting him.

He said they exchanged sexual photos, but no physical contact occurred.

Both young men testified from behind a screen on the witness stand.

“A case of this nature, as you can imagine, is extremely difficult,” explains Crown Attorney Bill Gorman. “They’re difficult things to talk about; it’s a difficult subject matter. I mean, being a witness in any proceeding is difficult.”

Through her lawyer, Hood has admitted to committing four of the actions for which she stands accused.

Psychologists testified earlier in the trial she was bipolar with manic tendencies at the time.

Her defence is that she was not criminally responsible.

“At the time of these alleged acts, that my client was suffering from a mental, a disease of the mind, which rendered her incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of her act or knowing that her act was wrong,” says defence lawyer Joel Pink, “

Both young men testified Hood told them to delete all the texts, or she could lose her job.

“It’s the Crown position and the position that we’ve advanced in this case,” adds Gorman. “That Ms. Hood did possess the requisite mental capacity to have the criminal intent to commit the offences.”

Testimony has concluded for the week.

The trial will resume on Monday with a number of Crown witnesses being called to the witness stand.

Ten days have been set aside for the trial.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Dan MacIntosh.