Horne denies latest allegations in Nunavut sex trial

Former Nunavut teacher and convicted sex offender Ed Horne denied a fresh round of allegations made against him by former students, telling an Iqaluit court on Thursday that the alleged sexual abuse never happened.

Horne, 64, took the stand in his own defence in the morning, as his judge-only trial resumed after a three-month adjournment. Crown prosecutor Judy Chan spent the afternoon cross-examining Horne at length.

Closing argumentsare scheduled to begin Friday morning.

It is the third time Horne has been charged with sex-related crimes: he pleaded guilty to eight charges in 1987, then was convicted on 20 similar charges in 2000.

All the charges have been based on complaints from students he had taught in eastern Arctic communities in the 1970s and 1980s.

The current 10 charges include buggery and gross indecent assault, and came from complaints from former students in Cape Dorset, Sanikiluaq, Kimmirut and Iqaluit.

The court heard emotional testimony in October from four men who alleged they had been sexually abused by the teacher when they were students. There's a court-ordered publication ban on the names of the complainants.

Such abuses impossible in busy school, Horne says

However, Horne testified Thursday that he cannot remember any of these latest allegations because, he said, they never happened.

Speaking in a firm and sometimes angry voice, Horne refuted the four former students' testimonies, which included one man's allegations that he had taken photographs of children wearing women's underwear, a tuxedo and a wedding dress in the school's shower room.

Horne said there was no way he could have taken such pictures in a school filled with other children and teachers.

Horne also denied ever owning pornography or showing it to students in his Cape Dorset home, saying his wife would never have allowed it.

The former teacher also denied one former student's testimony that students were masturbating in Horne's classroom. Horne testified that such activity would have caused an uproar among the girls in his class.

During his testimony, Horne reminded the court that he had pleaded guilty twice before to the charges against him, and that he has had ample time to consider his past after spending 18 months alone in a jail cell.

Horne said he has even given the Crown the names of four other students who may have a legitimate grievance against him.

Defence lawyer Tom Boyd rested his case Thursday morning, after presenting Horne as his only witness.

On Thursdayafternoon, Justice Robert Kilpatrick ruled against the Crown's application to discuss Horne's previous convictions. Kilpatrick said such evidence was not admissible in this trial.