Former B.C. teacher, 86, to remain imprisoned on child sex offences pending appeal, court rules
An 86-year-old B.C. man and former teacher recently given an eight-year federal sentence for historic sexual crimes against young boys will have to await the outcome of his appeal from a prison cell, a B.C. judge has ruled.
In a decision posted last week, Chief Justice Leonard Marchand and two other judges dismissed Brian Melicke Moore’s application for a panel of B.C. Appeal Court justices to review a decision by their colleague who earlier dismissed Moore’s bail application.
Moore was convicted in November of sexually interfering with the boys between 1976 and 1982, when most of them were students he selected and “groomed” while he was a well-liked elementary school teacher at Upper Lynn Elementary in North Vancouver.
Some of the boys also spent weekends away with Moore, whereupon they learned of “his insistence on nudity” and requirement that they change clothing in front of him and sleep naked.
“Invariably, Mr. Moore was also naked in the bed with the child he chose to sleep next,” trial judge Robert Hamilton wrote in his decision , noting that Moore would touch the boys’ genitalia and force them to touch his.
Another of Moore’s victims was the eight-year-old son of close friends, a boy who saw him as a grandfather figure.
Moore’s lawyers appealed his conviction of eight counts of indecent assault and one count of touching a child for a sexual purpose and his sentence the same day his 31-day provincial court trial ended. Two days later, he applied for bail pending the appeal court’s decision.
They argued that the trial decision should be reviewed because Hamilton erred by “failing to consider whether certain of the complainants’ evidence was tainted by inadvertent or unconscious collusion” and “by giving insufficient weight to the reviewability interest” in light of a strong appeal application.
An unnamed appeal court judge, however, dismissed the request, concluding that “the public interest in enforceability outweighed the public interest in reviewability,” and the appellate panel found she made no material errors in doing so.
While not publicly published, Marchand cited from the chamber judge’s decision in which “she highlighted the violent nature and profound wrongfulness of sexual offences against children” and Moore’s “‘very high’ moral blameworthiness.”
“She noted ‘historical sexual offences are no less grave and demand … no less accountability than those committed today,’” Marchand wrote, noting the judge also put an emphasis on how Moore’s victims were negatively impacted.
In her view, unless Moore’s convictions were overturned entirely, his chance at a reduced sentence was “‘unlikely, if not very unlikely.’”
The same could be said regarding the potential for collusion, Marchand said.
“Even if Mr. Moore succeeded with his unconscious collusion ground of appeal, three convictions and a significant prison term would remain.”
Defence counsel also submitted in their appeals that Moore’s sentence was unwarranted and “unduly harsh” considering his advanced age and pre-existing medical conditions. A medical assessment supplied as evidence during the trial indicates the octogenarian suffers from heart disease, late-stage kidney failure and a list of other conditions.
In new court documents, Moore said conditions have improved since he was moved to the psychogeriatric unit at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford and “his medical needs are generally taken care of.”
“However, among other things, he complains the food causes him constipation, his sleep is disturbed by various checks by corrections officers, he is not getting exercise, he has not been offered physiotherapy, he has not been assisted with certain matters of personal hygiene and he is cold,” Marchand wrote. “To stay warm, he must remain in bed.”
Meanwhile, a geriatric medicine specialist said Moore’s “current living situation will have a very negative effect on his general health and will more likely than not shorten his lifespan.”
The panel said the chamber judge was well aware of Moore’s conditions and even directed that his appeal hearing be expedited to within six months of her decision.
Marchand said that while he empathizes with Moore’s concerns, age and failing health “cut both ways” on bail decisions. In one sense, they create an urgency to settle a case for the defendant, while on the other hand, “there is a greater public interest” in having Moore begin to serve his sentence immediately instead of being on bail awaiting an outcome.
“Here, although another judge may have been swayed by Mr. Moore’s personal circumstances, I am unable to say it is arguable no reasonable chambers judge would have declined to order Mr. Moore be released pending appeal.”
Moore is also facing three civil lawsuits stemming from his offences — one from the victims, a complainant not involved in his case and the North Vancouver School District.
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