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Guilty pleas in St. Michael’s hazing: Canada

Here is the link and excerpt

TORONTO — Three former students of a prestigious Toronto private school pleaded guilty Thursday in a sex assault scandal that rocked the all-boys Catholic institution last year.

The teens, who attended St. Michael’s College School, each pleaded guilty to one count of sex assault with a weapon and one count of assault with a weapon. One of them also pleaded guilty to making child pornography.

Crown attorney Erin McNamara read out an agreed statement of facts in youth court, saying a member of one of the football teams walked into the locker room after practice on Oct. 17, 2018, and heard a “roar” of teammates chanting “eh.”

The teen tried to run, she said, but “a mob … took him down.”

CAUTION: Graphic content may disturb some readers.

Three teens held their teammate and pulled his pants down, while another smacked him on the buttocks with his hand. Then one teen sexually assaulted him with a broom handle while another teammate captured the incident on video, which was later deleted at the request of the victim.

On Nov. 7, a similar incident occurred after a game once the coaches had left the locker room, the Crown said.

In that incident, another teen — who was not on the football team — came into the locker room looking for a ride home.

“Get him,” one of the players yelled, according to the statement of facts, then three took the victim to the ground and held him as two others ripped off his clothes and flipped him over on to his stomach.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024, the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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