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Duff Friesen should serve jail time for assaulting a student two decades ago, a Crown prosecutor argued at the sentencing hearing of the former principal of Christian Center Academy in Saskatoon.
Friesen’s defense attorney, Daniel Mol, argued for a conditional release: no detention time and no criminal record if he meets the conditions of release.
A Saskatoon King’s Court jury convicted Friesen of one count of assault in May and acquitted him of three other charges. The lawyers made their sentencing submissions on Friday.
Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo argued for an eight-month jail term followed by two years of probation.
Judge Natasha Crooks reserved her decision until December 18.
There is a court-ordered ban on publishing any evidence from the trial, including victim impact statements presented for sentencing, because Friesen has a second jury trial scheduled for September 2026.
He is also charged with seven counts of assault related to his time at Christian Center Academy, which was later renamed Legacy Christian Academy and then Valor Academy. The school is closely associated with Mile Two Church, now called Encounter Church.
He is one of three men connected to the school who have been charged or convicted of assault. Former students alleged that some school leaders in the early 2000s used a wooden paddle to beat them.
John Olubobokun, the school’s former principal, was found guilty of assaulting students with a wooden paddle and on November 20 received an 18-month jail sentence to be served in the community.
Olubobokun’s second trial is scheduled to begin on December 2. He is charged with two counts of assault related to his time at the school.
Ken Schultz, former principal and assistant principal at Christian Center Academy, is charged with assault with a weapon for allegedly hitting students with a wooden paddle in the early 2000s. He is also charged with sexual assault.
Schulz now has two trials scheduled, one in May 2026 and another in June 2026.
In July, a Saskatoon judge dismissed a $25 million class-action lawsuit filed in 2022 against Legacy Christian Academy and Mile Two Church. A King’s Bench judge said the plaintiffs failed to disclose prior settlement agreements with three defendants named in the lawsuit.
