Trial begins for Alberta farmer, 85, accused of sexually abusing girls 50 years ago

An 85-year-old Alberta man is on trial this week for allegedly molesting two girls a half-century ago.

Joseph Lazaruk listened in an Edmonton courtroom Monday — audio feedback occasionally buzzing in his court-issue hearing aid — as two women accused him of sexually abusing them on his central Alberta farm in the mid to late 1970s.

Both women teared up when describing the alleged abuse.

“In our day, we never brought stuff up,” the younger of the two said. “You shoved it under the rug. That’s how you dealt with it.”

Lazaruk has pleaded not guilty. Postmedia is not describing the relationship between Lazaruk and the women due to a court-ordered publication ban on the identities of the alleged victims.

The younger complainant claimed Lazaruk abused her from around age six to when she was 14. She said he initially groped her while she sat on his lap on a tractor. He later touched her private areas beneath her clothes and made her touch him sexually, she claimed.

The woman admitted her memory was hazy on some details, including how many times the alleged abuse happened. She described the period of her life as a “black ball” of negative emotions “because it’s so horrible what happened,” she said. “I can’t believe this is my life sometimes.”

The woman said she told a parent about the abuse when she was a teenager. She said she decided to pursue criminal charges last year after hearing Lazaruk might move in with a family who has a child.

During cross examination by defence lawyer Alexander Brophy, she denied taking any civil action against Lazaruk, or pursuing criminal charges because she was “mad he was getting praise” from an unspecified source.

The older complainant also described Lazaruk putting his hands down her pants while they shared a seat on his tractor. The alleged touching happened on a single occasion and stopped when a neighbour drove up, she said.

After his accusers testified, Lazaruk slowly made his way to the witness box, gripping his cane and the lawyers’ table for support. Once at the elevated platform, he strained to climb the final step.

Court soon realized Lazaruk’s location in the courtroom affected the audio quality of his hearing aids, forcing him to return to the lawyers’ table. He occasionally struggled to hear questions from his lawyer and Andrew Dirgo, the Crown.

Lazaruk denied molesting either girl. He said he couldn’t remember the younger girl ever being allowed on a tractor, while the elder had used the tractor only once without him. Neither girl would have fit on his lap while the machine was in operation, Lazaruk claimed.

Lazaruk said he was “astonished” when police told him he was being charged with sexual offences.

“I couldn’t believe when the police informed me that they had a statement,” he said, adding he could remember no prior discussions with either complainant about “unwanted touching.”

Court of King’s Bench Justice Eric Macklin, who is expected to hear closing arguments Tuesday, is hearing the case without a jury.

Gross indecency — similar to today’s offence of sexual interference — is no longer part of the Criminal Code, having been replaced in 1988. As is standard practice, police charged Lazaruk with the section in force at the time. The offence carried a maximum of five years in prison.

Sexual offences in Canada generally do not have statutes of limitations, while the Supreme Court has instructed trial courts not to draw adverse conclusions about a complainant’s credibility due to delays in reporting.

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