An appeal has been filed for a retired Chatham-Kent violin teacher who was found not guilty of sexually assaulting his students.
Ministry of the Attorney General Spokesperson Brian Gray has confirmed that the Crown has filed a Notice of Appeal against 72-year-old Claude Eric Trachy.
Justice Thomas Carey ruled in April that he didn’t have enough evidence to convict Trachy. The justice also agreed with the defence that the former violin teacher had no sexual intent and got no sexual gratification when he touched the breasts of 20 former female students while measuring for violin chin and shoulder rests.
Trachy's defence lawyer Ken Marley says the longer the allegations are out there, the harder it is for Trachy to "carry on and live a normal life."
"We're obviously disappointed that the Crown has chosen to appeal his acquittal," says Marley. "It's certainly going to mean more time that these allegations are hanging over Mr. Trachy's head and obviously much more cost in terms of contesting the appeal."
Marley says typically these types of appeals take between six and 12 months to come to a hearing depending on how long it takes the lawyers to prepare their materials for the court.
"It's an unfortunate situation because I'm sure there was a lot of relief after his acquittal and I'm sure he was feeling very good about the fact that the matter was done and he was hoping that it was at an end. This just means this will continue to be there in his life for at least another year," explains Marley.
Marley says he's confident Trachy will be found not guilty again.
"I agree with the conclusions that the trial judge came to that the context in which this touching happened was such that it did not make it a sexual assault," says Marley. "I'm confident that the court of appeal will view it the same way."