 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
Dramatic testimony at sex assault trial Dettah chief Edward Sangris contradicts story given by former councillor Richard Edjericon
Graeme McNaughton
Northern News Services
Published Friday, June 28, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Wildly contradictory testimony was the hallmark of Wednesday's court proceedings as Edward Sangris took the stand in his own defence and denied claims he was asked to step down as a Dettah band councillor in 1996 because of sexual assault allegations.
Sangris, the current Dettah chief with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, is on trial in NWT Supreme Court for the alleged sexual assault of a former band office employee between 1986 and 1990, and 1994 and 1996.
Sangris testified he was asked to vacate his position as a band councillor in 1996 because he was missing too many meetings due to his employment at Polaris Mine in Nunavut. He said he was also absent to tend to his mother who had stomach cancer at the time.
Sangris said the termination of his council position came during a closed-door session of a band council meeting, but he could not remember who specifically asked him to step aside.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard a conflicting account from Crown witness Richard Edjericon, who was also a band councillor at the time. Edjericon testified he had asked Sangris to step aside because of claims of sexual assault levied against him. Jonas Sangris, who was chief at the time, removed himself from the meeting because he is the current chief's brother.
The accused said he had been friendly with Edjericon until 2007 when he defeated him to become the new Dettah chief after which time Sangris says Edjericon stopped speaking to him.
On Thursday, Ernest Betsina, a band councillor from 1994 to 1999 and current Ndilo chief, and Lena Cleary, former housing manager for Yellowknives Dene and a former band councillor, both testified they had no memory of a meeting in 1996 involving sexual assault allegations against Sangris. Under cross-examination neither could confirm whether such a meeting occurred.
Sangris denied touching the claimant in a sexual way, and said he was never alone in the band office with her. The complainant testified on Tuesday that the assaults, which amounted to groping and inappropriate touching, took place in the early morning hours at the band office when they were the only people present.
Jack Poitras, who acted as band manager from 1989 to 1992, also testified on Wednesday to corroborate the defence's position. He said while he was band manager Sangris was rarely in the office except for band meetings and, on occasion, to pay water bills.
The former manager also said it was either he or another staffer who opened the band office in the morning, which contradicted the complainant's earlier testimony.
The accused had testified she was always the one to open the band office, coming in an hour early to clean up and to empty the honey bucket.
Poitras said while he was manager the job of emptying the honey bucket was contracted to an outside company and not the woman's responsibility.
During cross examination, Duane Praught, the Crown prosecutor, asked Sangris about the transfer of files from storage to the new band office in 2009. Praught said there had been significant water damage and many files were destroyed as a result.
One of those destroyed files, according to Praught, was the personnel file for the complainant which would have included the complainant's job description.
Sangris said he was not aware the file was destroyed.
Under cross examination, Cleary, whose sister is married to Sangris, was reminded she had refused to give a statement to the RCMP about the allegations in November 2011. At the time, she had asked RCMP why they were pursuing charges when the allegations happened so long ago and involved touching, not sex. Cleary mentioned she was angry at the RCMP constable at the time and was sorry for what she said.
Sangris testified he and the complainant grew up in Dettah and knew each other. However, their relationship was not a close one, he said.
The Dettah chief testified he and the woman never had personal contact except for a short phone call in 1992 when the woman was looking for her son, who was friends with his son.
However, tensions flared in either 1994 or 1995, Edward Sangris said, when he confronted the woman after allegedly hearing numerous complaints from residents and other band employees about her behaviour, which was described as rude and unprofessional.
Problems arose again in 2009 when new houses were to be constructed in Dettah, with homes planned for either side of the complainant's residence.
The chief testified the woman came to band meetings to object to the construction, but did not offer specific reasons why she didn't want them built.
During her testimony on Tuesday, the woman said she complained to the band and the building contractor about the workers "pissing everywhere." The chief said the woman pulled up the marking stakes on one of the planned houses, and built a shed on the property to prevent further construction.
Lawyers will be making their final statements at 9 a.m. today after which the decision will be left to the jury to deliberate.
| 
