Regina court stands by as jury deliberates in sexual exploitation case

Court of King's Bench in Regina.

The jury in the trial of Stacey Duke was sequestered to reach a verdict Tuesday afternoon. The former educational assistant is accused of sexually exploiting two youths.

Duke, 39, faces a total of six charges. They include two counts of exploiting teenagers for a sexual purpose, two counts of making explicit material available, and two counts of luring a child.

The alleged offences occurred while Duke was working as an educational assistant at Vibank Regional School in the fall of 2022.

Both alleged victims were 17 years old at the time of the offence and cannot be named due to a publication ban imposed by the court.

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Throughout the trial, the court heard from five Crown witnesses – two being the youth who are making the claims, two being friends of the complainants, and the other being the RCMP officer who investigated the initial report.

The first complainant testified that Duke allegedly added them on the social media platform Snapchat and would send messages to them about having “sexual fantasies” along with sending nude photos and videos of herself. The complainant stated the incident occurred for several weeks.

The second youth testified to receiving an explicit video of Duke through Facebook messenger on one occasion.

When called by her defence lawyer to testify, Duke admitted to the second youth’s allegation, but denied the first offence.

She added that she did not know the former student directly through her work at Vibank, and it was years after the student left the school.

She also testified that she was suffering with alcoholism and severe depression at the time.

Before the jury was sequestered to deliberate, the judge emphasized that for each charge laid, jury members must consider if Duke was in a position of trust or authority during the alleged offence, while also considering the evidence presented.

Once the jury has reached a verdict, the Crown and defence will be recalled back to the Court of King’s Bench.

- More to come.