ST-JEROME - The alleged young male victim of a torrid sex affair with his high school teacher took the stand for the first time Friday.
The young man, who cannot be identified because he was minor at the time of the alleged offences, spoke in detail about his relationship with his former teacher Tania Pontbriand.
He said that Pontbriand, now aged 41, was his gym teacher but also taught him a leadership training course.
As part of that course, about 25 students went on a camping trip and the duo got to talking after being forced to hide in a van together to avoid a skunk, the student claims. He was 15 and she was 32 at the time.
Within two weeks the two were having an intimate relationship, in spite of the fact that she was married, he told the court.
The young man was extremely confident on the stand, well dressed and outgoing, rarely hesitating during his narrative.
The two spent a summer seeing each other and having sex every day, mainly in Pontbriand's home while her husband was out, the student claims. While the sex was central to the relationship, he testified, Pontbriand also showered him with gifts.
He remembered Pontbriand telling him, "I know we're meant for each other. I love you. We were meant to be soulmates."
When the alleged relationship began, the young man says he was an "A" student. But after a few months, he said his marks began to slip and he became alienated from his mother and friends because he had to keep the relationship secret.
The young man said that his mother did not suspect that the two were having a sexual relationship, but she eventually ordered him to stop it and also complained to the school. The school intervened and demanded that the relationship end, the student said, but the two still managed to see each other at night.
The relationship began to sour when the boy began attending Cégep in Montreal, he said, and Pontbriand found herself a new lover.
He told the court he couldn't accept it.
"I was confused, skeptical," he said. "She convinced me that we were in love, that I was special. As time went on, I became dependant on her. It was my first relationship. Everything she said and promised wasn't true."
The boy says he fell behind in his studies at Cégep and was expelled. He fell into a depression and began to see a psychiatrist, who urged him to tell his family, who then pushed him to tell the police.
Pontbriand was arrested in 2008 after the man, now in his early 20s, went to police and accused the woman of seducing him.
Pontbriand had attempted to get the trial thrown out on the basis that the accusations date from 2002 to 2004 and therefore violate her right to a speedy trial but the judge refused to accommodate her demand. Yet, the week-long attempt to have the case thrown out now means the judge will not be able to hear the rest of it until November.
Pontbriand, a former teacher at the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on sexual assault charges due to the position of authority she had over the boy.
