Former teacher to spend 16 months in jail for child luring

Jayson Kennard (Facebook)

A former Saskatoon teacher will spend over a year in jail for luring one of his former students.

Jayson Kennard, 40, was found guilty in March of child luring. Justice Geoffrey Dufour handed down the 16-month sentence Friday morning. The Crown had argued for an 18 month sentence while the defence argued for the minimum of 12 months.

During the trial, court heard how Kennard messaged a former student, who was 16 years old at the time, on Facebook. He asked the boy to share nude photos and to video chat naked.

After eight months of messaging, the boy's mom found out, which led police to pose as the boy on Facebook. Kennard was arrested at Dundonald School in the fall of 2013.

His defence lawyer Brad Mitchell said “the impact has been immense” on Kennard. He’s lost his job and his relationships with family and friends have been put to the test.

“He had considered taking his life and he's had some very difficult days. And that's understandable given the nature of the publicity, given the nature of the impact that's had on him,” said Mitchell.

During sentencing on Friday, Dufour said while the boy was a former student at the time, Kennard was still in a position of trust and he violated that. Crown prosecutor Michael Segu said society trusts teachers to look after children in the absence of parents and are held to a very high level of behaviour.

"The court took the opportunity to send a strong message of deterrence to anyone who is in a position of trust in relation to children, that this type of behaviour is not going to be tolerated,” Segu told CTV News.

Following Kennard’s 16-month jail sentence, he will be on probation for two years and must complete a sexual offender treatment program.