An 8 -grade teacher accused of multiple sexual crimes involving students can declare themselves guilty before the case goes to trial, according to an Ontario court.
Kelly-Anne Jennings, who is on the unpaid license of her work at the St. Anthony Catholic School in Port Hope, Ontario, faces 18 positions for sexual crimes, including sexual assault on a child under 14 years.
Jennings, 40, is accused of making child pornography and distributing sexually explicit material to a minor, according to judicial records. It is alleged that all crimes occurred between June 2022 and April 2024 in Port Hope, part of Northumberland County, east of Toronto.
At a brief hearing on Wednesday morning at the nearby Cobourg, a legal assistant that represents the Jennings lawyer, Dean Embry, told the court that the defense team and the prosecutors of the crown are in conversations so that the defendants declare themselves guilty.
It is not clear if Jennings plans to declare himself guilty of all, or just some, of the positions, which include attracting, sexual interference and invitation to the sexual touch. The defendant did not appear in the Court on Wednesday and his lawyer did not respond to a request for comments.
Four minors, whose identities are covered by a publication prohibition, are appointed in judicial records as alleged victims. Police said the defendant communicated with the plaintiffs on social media platforms, including Snapchat.
Jennings was first accused last August after the researchers said a male student told her mother about inappropriate physical contact with a teacher on a class trip. Later, the police said three more plaintiffs had been filed, which led to more positions.
Stephen O’Sullivan, Director of Education of the School Board of the Catholic District of Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington, previously told CBC that Jennings had been used in St. Antony since 2016. After his initial arrest, he was put on administrative license and forbidden to visit properties of the Board or exchange the students, said Osullivan.
“There have been no changes in his status,” the Galen Eagle School Board spokesman said Wednesday. “She will remain unpaid license during the duration of the judicial process.”
A representative of the Court of Justice of Ontario in Cobourg said he could not confirm when the case would return to court.
