Toronto pastor Hawkes found not guilty of gross indecency, indecent assault

Toronto pastor Hawkes found not guilty of gross indecency, indecent assault (Photo by Marc Lostracco (Bitpicture from Toronto, Canada) The photographer kindly changed the license of the image to cc-by-sa-2.0 in response to a request to upload the image to Wikimedia Commons. (Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes Uploaded by Skeezix1000) [CC BY-SA 2.0)

Provincial court Judge Alan Tufts handed down the verdict today in Kentville, N.S., saying he found significant inconsistencies in the testimony of the witnesses.

Hawkes, a high-profile rights activist who officiated at former NDP leader Jack Layton’s state funeral in 2011, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The charges stem from events in the mid-1970s, when Hawkes was a teacher in his mid-20s in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

The trial heard emotional testimony from a middle-age man who said Hawkes led him down a hallway naked during a drunken get-together at his trailer and forced oral sex on him in a bedroom when he was about 16 years old.

But taking the stand in his own defence last November, Hawkes categorically denied the allegations.