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Teacher faces sex charges

A Sudbury teacher accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old student a year ago has opted to stand trial before a judge alone in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
A Sudbury teacher accused of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old student a year ago has opted to stand trial before a judge alone in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Paul Bedard, 36, was suspended with pay after being charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation by Greater Sudbury Police last April.

Bedard was a gym teacher at St. Benedict?s Secondary School on Algonquin Road in Sudbury?s south end at the time he was charged.

Justice Randall Lalande of the Ontario Court of Justice presided over a preliminary hearing Thursday at the Sudbury courthouse and committed Bedard for trial.

The complainant, now age 16, was the only witness called by assistant Crown attorney Marc Huneault at the preliminary hearing.

She spent three hours during examination in chief going over the details of her relationship with Bedard and another 90 minutes under cross-examination by defence counsel William Markle, a Toronto-based lawyer.

Lalande issued a publication ban of all evidence presented during the preliminary hearing.

Bedard has been suspended with pay from the Sudbury and District Catholic School Board since being charged by police.