Pastor's 'Spell' Finally Broken
By Jane Sims
It was as if Royden Wood cast a "spell" on the congregation of the now-closed Ambassador Baptist Church. That was how one of his sexual assault victims described the hold the pastor had on his flock during the years the controversial church at the corner of King and Adelaide streets was in its full flight until it closed in 2007. The last criminal courtroom chapter of the Ambassador Church scandal ended Friday with a six-year prison sentence for Wood. The 62-year-old former church leader came to court without his wife Linda in anticipation of being jailed for his crimes. Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid said in his decision that Wood "methodically isolated his complainants, manipulated them and brought them under his control. "He did so by exercising his authority over them as their pastor, in which role he dominated almost all aspects of their lives." "As a result, the complainants suffered extensive emotional, mental, spiritual and sexual abuse," McDermid said. The abuse included convincing strong, educated, committed women to comply with Wood's suggestions to take off their clothes and participate in sex acts, including intercourse. Able now to look at her life at the church with a clearer head, a 47-year-old woman is convinced the church was a cult and she was brainwashed. "Incredibly, yes. Yes, I do," she said after Wood was sentenced for three counts of sexual assault involving women at the church. "I don't know how it works, but I can definitely say I've experienced being under his spell. "There was a clear day I saw the light. I realized this is not right and I spoke against him and defied him. It took all the courage I had; it was like the spell broke." That courage led her and several other women to go to police with their accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of their minister who had convinced them sex was part of chiropractic therapy and marriage counselling to make them better wives. McDermid took notice of Wood's long list of psychiatric problems and the treatment he's undergone since his first convictions in 2008 for subjecting boys who attended the church's alternative school to a violent behaviour-modification program and for grabbing the breasts of two other female congregants. Wood has been diagnosed with manic depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sleep apnea, along with temporal lobe epilepsy. He has been under a doctor's care and takes medication. Wood's criminal personality didn't go unnoticed by the author of his pre-sentence report who said in 30 years of work, "this writer has never experienced such a manipulative, coercive, controlling and master groomer of his victims." Wood's defence lawyer Alison Craig argued for a sentence to be served in the community or a provincial jail where Wood could continue to receive care and support, something not readily available in Canada's federal prison system. If he stays on his medications, his physicians say he's "a very moderate risk" to re-offend. Wood denies he sexually assaulted any of the women, despite the verdicts from the jury who heard his trial last year. He sees himself as the victim of his former congregation. But Wood is both intelligent and "very manipulative," McDermid said. "The combination of these traits is worrisome." The judge pointed to examples of Wood's "scheming and calculating nature." During phallometric testing - tests for sexual responses - Wood turned away from every picture he was shown except for the sexually neutral images. He also told a doctor he had minimized his seizure symptoms to regain his pilot's licence. And he admitted he was temporarily separated from his wife so he could qualify for Legal Aid. McDermid said it appears Wood's manipulation "is a trait deeply ingrained in (his) character." The judge said a conditional sentence was "grossly inadequate" and sided with assistant Crown attorney Peter Rollings' request for a six-year term. Craig said after McDermid's decision she was "somewhat surprised" at the length of the sentence. No decision has been made about an appeal. Wood didn't show any reaction in the courtroom. He allowed himself to be led out of the courtroom by a female court security officer. "I thought that was great," said another 47-year old victim. "Here's a man who thinks we are things to walk on and it's a woman who's leading him out." She said she wanted to "jump for joy" when the judge levelled the lengthy term. "He cut us off from our families; he cut us off from outside counselling and he became it all." Contact: jane.sims@sunmedia.ca
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