Lawyer representing former Saskatoon Christian school principal questions witness credibility during closing arguments

During the closing arguments of the assault trial, former Christian school principal Duff Arthur Friesen's defence lawyer questioned the credibility of the five witnesses who testified against him. Friesen faces five counts of assault with a weapon, stemming from incidents that occurred between 1997 and 2007 while he was an administrator at Christian Centre Academy.

During the trial, jurors listened to testimonies from the five former students, who described how they were disciplined with wooden paddles. However, defence lawyer Daniel Mol argued that it is "unsafe" to convict Friesen based solely on the accounts of the witnesses, citing potential influence from external sources, such as a separate class-action lawsuit against the school.

Mol also pointed out that one witness's account differed from his 2021 testimony to the police. Meanwhile, crown attorney Sheryl Fillo emphasized the need to consider each of the five counts separately, noting that a single incident of paddling within the 20-year period could lead to conviction. Fillo revisited the testimonies of the five witnesses, discussing how one former student prepared for the paddling by wearing multiple pairs of underwear to school.

In her closing arguments, Fillo urged the jury to use common sense when analyzing the evidence and making their decision. Friesen was found guilty of one count of assault with a weapon and not guilty of three other counts in a previous trial, serving a six-month conditional sentence in the community. Since then, Christian Centre Academy was renamed Legacy Christian Academy and is now known as Valour Academy.