Trial date for former teacher to be set Wednesday

Charges involving a former student were initially laid in November, 2011.

A former James Kennedy Elementary teacher will be back in Provincial Court on Wednesday, to find out when her trial starts into allegations of sexually assaulting a former student.

Deborah Ralph, 58, allegedly assaulted a male student between December 1998 and June 2001.

The alleged victim contacted Langley RCMP in November 2011, to report he had been sexually assaulted by Ralph while studying at the James Kennedy Elementary School. He once was her student, but alleges he was assaulted when she was no longer his teacher.

Ralph taught at the school from September 1987 to June 2010.

The teacher is being defended by Janet Winteringham, a high-profile Vancouver lawyer who was on the prosecution team which obtained guilty pleas from two BC Liberal government aides charged with corruption in connection with the $1-billion sale of B.C. Rail.

Ralph was suspended with pay after she was charged in November, 2011, one day after the former student went to police.

The B.C. Teachers Federation declined to confirm if Ralph’s legal bills or a portion of them are being paid for by the union.

Langley Times