Murray Wood: A party 100 years in the making
Murray Wood and a couple of hundred others attended a birthday party on the weekend for a woman who turned 100, and cele...
This story contains details of courtroom testimony detailing sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.
The girl recalled part of the alleged sexual assault as one of the worst things she could have imagined on the first day of music teacher Claro Belen’s trial in Regina on Monday.
Belen is accused of sexual assault during a private lesson in February 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to four charges including sexual assault, touching the girl with a part of his body for a sexual purpose, exposing his genitals to her, and invitation to sexual touching.
Read more:
- New trial ordered for convicted Saskatchewan sex offender Stacey Duke
- Regina police plane targeted by laser; man facing charges
- Fire claims two cabins at Emma Lake
The victim was nine years old at the time the incident was first reported to police through the Regina Children’s Justice Centre.
Through a video camera, the girl sat on a couch in the Court of King’s Bench “Soft Room” occasionally petting a police therapy dog while she gave her testimony.
The trial began with a voir dire to approve a video of the child giving a statement to police into the court record. Justice Holli Kuski Basset said the video could be used as evidence in the trial.
Crown lawyer Jillian Borrowman used the statement to police to begin guiding the victim through her testimony.
The victim told the courtroom she and her sister were attending music lessons at the time of the alleged offence.
The girl said her sibling was in a room where band equipment was stored. She testified Belen asked her to lay down on the floor, and he laid on top of her chest to chest.
“That’s where I thought I might suffocate because of a lack of air,” the victim said.
The child said she was told by the music teacher she looked like a young lady, which she denied, and said she felt uncomfortable about the interaction.
“I almost wanted to slap him,” she said.
The victim said she was able to get out from underneath the instructor when she asked to use the bathroom “as an excuse to escape him.”
While she was washing her hands, the girl said Belen entered the bathroom.
The music teacher lifted his shirt and unzipped his fly, the child said, and dragged her hands onto his penis.
“It was like the worst feeling I could ever imagine,” she said.
The music teacher’s phone ringing stopped the interaction, the victim said, and Belen left the bathroom.
“I was so disgusted that I washed my hands again,” she said.
The girl said Belen apologized to her about incident after the percussion lesson had finished. She said she told him she forgave him, but didn’t mean it.
Belen sat expressionless during the court proceedings.
During cross examination, defence lawyer Nick Robinson asked the victim if she remembered Belen telling her father she wasn’t practising enough.
She denied the alleged sexual assault was a fabrication and said it was not created to get back at her music teacher.
The victim’s father said he was first contacted by police after telling her teacher about the incident over the weekend. 980 CJME is not identifying him because it could identify the victim.
The father said he would briefly speak with Belen when dropping his children off for lessons each Saturday. He said he or his children never saw Belen again after charges were laid.
The school’s principal and a Regina police school resource officer also provided testimony on Monday.
The trial is set to continue on Tuesday.
Read more:
