Christian School director's beatings left marks, bruises, former student tells court
Caitlin Erickson described how her former private Christian school director hit her with a wooden paddle, leaving white welts and bruising that lasted for weeks.
On one occasion, John Olubobokun hit her so hard that she urinated, she said. She told court she would shut down, dissociate and “try to get through it.”
Each time, he put his hand on her backside, lifted up a fleece vest she was wearing, and hit her on the buttocks between three and six times, leaving enough time between each strike so she didn't know when the next blow was coming, Erickson testified.
“I'd never been hit like that before,” she said, comparing it to other spankings she'd received at Christian Centre Academy in Saskatoon's north end.
Erickson appeared on Tuesday as one of several former students testifying at Olubobokun's assault trial, which began Monday in Saskatoon provincial court.
Olubobokun is charged with nine counts of assault with a weapon.
He is accused of hitting students with a wooden paddle, often in his office but sometimes at their homes, while he was the director of Christian Centre Academy (since renamed Legacy Christian Academy) between 2003 and his departure in 2007.
He is one of four ex-administrators charged with historical assaults after former students filed a $25-million class-action lawsuit in 2022, alleging physical and sexual abuse at the school.
The students say they were paddled as a form of “scriptural” punishment, usually for infractions that involved disobeying authority.
Erickson said she went to the school and adjoining church from kindergarten to Grade 12. It was an insular community that saw the world as “us” and “them,” she told court.
Students testified that people who left the church and school were ex-communicated.
Erickson said things changed under Olubobokun's leadership in 2003 when he told the student body he would spank them if they “stepped out of line,” or if they withheld information about students who misbehaved.
“It was like eat or be eaten,” she said.
While paddling was the culture at the school, they had never been threatened like that, Erickson testified.
She said she was accused of being “too expressive” on the volleyball court, resulting in one of several beatings. She said Olubobokun then prayed for her and told her to ask for God's forgiveness.
During one of his interrogations, he demanded she sign a pre-written confession after a nurse had removed him from a fellow student's hospital room, Erickson testified. Erickson said she had been at the hospital when it happened and Olubobokun knew her mom worked there, so he demanded she tell him the nurse's name so he could get them fired.
Erickson said he pounded his fists on his desk, yelled and hit her with a paddle when she refused.
She also recalled seeing Olubobokun's daughter kick down a bathroom stall door after a game, which she caught and tried to fix. Another student saw her holding the door and reported her to the director, court heard. Erickson said Olubobokun hit her with a paddle for refusing to take the blame.
In another instance, she said Olubobokun accused her of lying about a classmate's suicidal ideations. Erickson said he called her mom and told her that it had been dealt with and she would be sent back to class.
Instead, he paddled her, she told court. Erickson said she was alone with Olubobokun, who told her mom there were others in the room.
After a previous incident, Erickson said her mom had told her to let her know if he ever met with her privately again. Sometimes her volleyball coach would be in the room during the beatings, while other times it was just her and Olubobokun, Erickson told court.
She said she made a police report in June 2021 after learning that Olubobokun had opened a new Christian school. She said she was told her entire life that being paddled at school was legal, and it took her “a very long time not to be afraid of that man.”
Many students told court they came forward after discovering that others were doing the same. Under cross-examination, they said no one told them what to say to police, and they made their reports before learning about the lawsuit.
Cross-examination of Erickson began after the Leader-post's Tuesday print publication deadline. Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo said the Crown plans to call 11 witnesses this week.