Your Island News for Wednesday, October 14

Good evening.

Thanks very much for joining us tonight.

A Victoria ballet instructor was found guilty today of two child sexual offenses.

David Beals, who initially tried to conceal his identity at trial, was found to have sexually interfered with and sexually exploited one of his 15-year-old dancers.

As Corey Siddoway tells us, the judge found Beals' testimony contradictory, unconvincing and implausible.

She was 15, he was 33.

She was an aspiring professional ballerina, vulnerable and isolated.

He was the instructor she idolized with the keys to her career.

A judge found today because of her age, she couldn't have consented.

As a result, David Beals was convicted of both sexual interference and sexual exploitation.

The judge not believing Beals' rendition of events.

That sex between the two happened when she was 16, the age of consent in Canada, rather than 15, calling him an unreliable witness.

The dancer, however, despite what the judge categorized as a skillful cross-examination, remained steady, expressing both certainty and concessions throughout the trial, whose testimony was corroborated by text messages.

In them, Beals admitted to and apologized for having sex with the dancer when she was 15.

At trial, he argued he was apologizing for the relationship as a whole.

The judge didn't buy it.

calling his responses telling that had he responded with bewilderment, it would have painted a different picture.

That, she says, is not the case here.

The judge found that at trial, Beals intentionally diminished and minimized his role instructing the victim before concluding that Beals also knew the victim was vulnerable, having mental health issues, was self-harming, had tried to commit suicide and was having a difficult relationship with her parents.

In addition, to being dependent on him and the dance studio to allow her to continue dancing, something that resulted in the sexual exploitation conviction.

That role of trust and authority, however, had changed by the time Beals sent a nude photo over Signal a couple years later.

As such, the judge found Beals not guilty of making sexually explicit material available to a child.

Both of the child sexual offenses Beals is now convicted of are indictable offenses, meaning he faces a future prison sentence between 1 and 14 years.

Prior to a sentencing date, Beals was released on the same conditions he's been on since July of last year.

He cannot be around anyone under the age of 16 or be anywhere like public schools or parks where kids can be expected.

Good evening.

Thanks very much for joining us tonight.

A Victoria ballet instructor was found guilty today of two child sexual offenses.

David Beals, who initially tried to conceal his identity at trial, was found to have sexually interfered with and sexually exploited one of his 15-year-old dancers.

As Corey Siddoway tells us, the judge found Beals' testimony contradictory, unconvincing and implausible.

She was 15, he was 33.

She was an aspiring professional ballerina, vulnerable and isolated.

He was the instructor she idolized with the keys to her career.

A judge found today because of her age, she couldn't have consented.

As a result, David Beals was convicted of both sexual interference and sexual exploitation.

The judge not believing Beals' rendition of events.

That sex between the two happened when she was 16, the age of consent in Canada, rather than 15, calling him an unreliable witness.

The dancer, however, despite what the judge categorized as a skillful cross-examination, remained steady, expressing both certainty and concessions throughout the trial, whose testimony was corroborated by text messages.

In them, Beals admitted to and apologized for having sex with the dancer when she was 15.

At trial, he argued he was apologizing for the relationship as a whole.

The judge didn't buy it.

calling his responses telling that had he responded with bewilderment, it would have painted a different picture.

That, she says, is not the case here.

The judge found that at trial, Beals intentionally diminished and minimized his role instructing the victim before concluding that Beals also knew the victim was vulnerable, having mental health issues, was self-harming, had tried to commit suicide and was having a difficult relationship with her parents.

In addition, to being dependent on him and the dance studio to allow her to continue dancing, something that resulted in the sexual exploitation conviction.

That role of trust and authority, however, had changed by the time Beals sent a nude photo over Signal a couple years later.

As such, the judge found Beals not guilty of making sexually explicit material available to a child.

Both of the child sexual offenses Beals is now convicted of are indictable offenses, meaning he faces a future prison sentence between 1 and 14 years.

Prior to a sentencing date, Beals was released on the same conditions he's been on since July of last year.

He cannot be around anyone under the age of 16 or be anywhere like public schools or parks where kids can be expected.