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A former dance teacher who worked at a North Vancouver dance studio has been found not guilty of alleged sexual offences against a teenage dance student a decade ago.
Adam Gregory McKinnon, 42, of Vancouver, had been accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his students over a two-year period, when the student was between 15 and 17 years old. In a lengthy trial conducted over several months, he faced charges of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching of a person under 16, as well as a charge of sexual exploitation and a charge of sexual assault.
On Tuesday, Judge Patricia Jantzen acquitted McKinnon of all charges in North Vancouver provincial court.
In her decision, Jantzen said if she had to decide if it was “more likely than not” that there was sexual activity between the two, she would have believed the student’s version of events over that of McKinnon.
But Jantzen said the defence had raised enough “reasonable doubt” to find McKinnon not guilty of the charges.
During the trial, the student – whose identity is protected by a publication ban – testified that they began dancing at an elite level when they were still in elementary school, and first began taking dance classes from McKinnon at age 12. By the time the student was 15, they had also joined McKinnon’s semi-professional dance group at the Harbour Dance Centre. That involved taking classes later at night, and McKinnon would often drive the student home, they said.
The student testified that their relationship eventually became sexual and involved being intimate with McKinnon in his car in secluded mall or park parking lots in North Vancouver, in washrooms and in movie theatres.
The student testified it wasn’t until they were an adult in therapy that they realized “it was a predatory relationship.”
During the trial, defence lawyer Tony Tso questioned the former student’s recollection of events, suggesting some of the times and locations the student said they had sex with McKinnon were unlikely.
Testifying in his own defence, McKinnon told the judge no sexual activity with the student ever took place.
In her decision, Jantzen said she did not find McKinnon a credible witness, adding he downplayed his role of power and influence in the student’s life.
His testimony that he never bought the student a “burner phone” and didn’t spend time with the student alone was contradicted by the testimony of other dancers and the student’s friends and family, Jantzen noted.
But she said there were also inconsistencies in the student’s testimony, which included struggling to recall locations where they said sex took place and how long the lunch breaks were at the downtown dance studio when they said regular sex happened.
The student was also unaware of a prominent birthmark on McKinnon’s body – verified by a medical examination – which “must raise a doubt” about the student’s testimony “that they had extensive sexual contact over a period of more than two years,” said the judge.
