Former Sask. educational assistant accused of sexually exploiting teens testifies in court

WATCH: A woman accused of sexually exploiting youth while working as an educational assistant testified in court on Thursday. Sierra D’Souza Butts has more.

The woman accused of sexually exploiting a student while working as an educational assistant at Vibank Regional School has taken the stand.

Stacey Duke, 39, has been charged with sexual exploitation of two teenagers, making sexually explicit material available to a child, and luring a child.

In the ongoing trial, Duke was called as a witness by the defence Thursday morning. She admitted to one incident – but denied the other allegation.

Earlier this week, the court heard from five witnesses. One being the complainant and another being a former student from the school. The two made statements to Indian Head RCMP during the initial investigation.

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Both alleged victims were 17 years-old at the time and cannot be identified.

During her testimony, Duke stated the conversation between her and the former student did happen, where she admitted she sent them an explicit video of herself over Facebook messenger in fall 2022.

She added that she was going through a difficult period in her life – admitting that she was suffering with alcoholism and severe depression.

Duke also stated that she did not know the former student directly through her work at Vibank school, and the incident she admitted to occurred years later when the student was attending a different school entirely.

Throughout her testimony Duke denied ever adding the other complainant on the social media platform Snapchat, along with allegedly asking or sending them sexual messages, photos and videos of herself.

The trial has wrapped up for the week.

The court will hear closing arguments from the Crown and the defence on Monday at the Court of King’s Bench, with the jury expecting to be sequestered on Tuesday until they reach a verdict.