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	Women Allege Minister Repeatedly Touched Them When They Were Children Sex Offences Trial: Say They Stopped Attending Anglican Priest's Sunday School in Chapleau in 1960s, '70s By Linda Richardson Sault Star September 10, 2009 http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1736742 A judge heard Wednesday from two women who testified their minister molested them in the church basement when they were children. The pair was among three witnesses to take the stand at the trial of former Anglican priest Kenneth Graham Gibbs, who is charged with sex offences dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. Gibbs, 76, pleaded not guilty in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom to nine counts of indecent assault involving six complainants. A publication ban prohibits reporting any evidence that might identify the complainants. Superior Court Justice Edward Koke heard the alleged incidents involving the two women occurred when Gibbs was minister of St. John's Anglican Church in Chapleau. The first woman described incidents that began when she was 11 years old and attending Sunday school at the church. Gibbs brushed her breasts with his hand as he touched and admired a necklace she was wearing, she said. "At the time I didn't think it was intentional. I don't think that today because there were many times after with myself and others," the 52-year-old woman told prosecutor Mike Kelly. A second incident involved Gibbs rubbing his hand across her breast as he again admired an necklace. "It wasn't an accident," she said. "I pulled away." Some times Gibbs came up behind her, she said, detailing another occurrence where he cupped both of her breasts and told her she had nice hair. The witness estimated that Gibbs touched her about 20 times when she was 11 and 12 years of age. As well, she described another occasion where Gibbs exposed himself in a church basement room where he was conducting confirmation lessons. Gibbs sent the two other kids in the room across the street to the rectory to pick up some books, she said. "I was reading from the Bible. I could see Rev. Gibbs doing something. I wasn't sure what. I kept reading." She said when she realized what he had in his hand, she pushed her chair, which was on wheels, back a couple feet from the table. At that time the other children returned and the class p>The woman said she stopped going to church at age 13 because "it just wasn't comfortable there." Her mother was unaware that she had stopped attending Sunday school until she received a call from someone at the church. When confronted by her mother about why she'd been going to a restaurant on Sundays, instead of church, the woman said "that's when I finally told my mother he had been touching us girls and he exposed himself to me." Her upset, yelling and swearing mother telephoned Gibbs and told him she knew what he had been doing. She also threatened to call the archbishop of the diocese-- a call she made shortly after slamming the phone down. Not long after that, maybe two months, Gibbs was gone from that church, the witness said. Since she could only hear one side of the conversation, the woman said she didn't know what Gibbs's response had been to her mother. During cross-examination by defence lawyer Andre Berthelot, she agreed she had indicated in a 2005 statement to police that she thought Gibbs didn't have "a chance to say boo" when confronted by her mother. A 50-year-old woman also testified Wednesday about incidents with Gibbs that happened in the same time period. The first encounter occurred in the basement Sunday school area when she was eight years old, she told the court. Gibbs commented about her necklace, touched it and rubber her neck, the witness said. Another time, he grabbed the collar of her open-neck shirt and rubbed the skin of her upper chest area with his fingers, she said. "That made me feel uncomfortable. It didn't seem appropriate." She described another incident, when she was nine to 10 years old, where Gibbs came up behind her while she was lining up chairs. He put one hand on her waist and the other between her legs, then touched her stomach and told her she was putting on weight, the woman said. "That really scared me. I was terrified." The final incident occurred when she was alone in a back room with Gibbs. He reached across the desk, and pinched her nipple area (she didn't have breasts at the time), she said. "It hurt me and I had to push hard (on the chair) to get out of his grip. . . . (and) ran out of the room," she said fighting back tears. The woman said she never went near him again and stopped attending Sunday school. "Even at that age I knew it was progressing," she told Kelly. "I was so afraid of him I didn't want to go to church anymore." During cross-examination, she agreed that she been confirmed in St. John's by Gibbs when she was 12 years old. "You had to put your fear aside to take confirmation classes?" Berthelot asked. "I guess I had to," replied the woman, who also indicated she doesn't remember taking any confirmation lessons.
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