Olubobokun denies paddling nine students while private Christian school director

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John Olubobokun denies allegations from nine former Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy students who say the former director hit them with paddles as part of “scriptural punishment” that was historically practised at the school.

When Olubobokun’s lawyer went through each student’s testimony, asking if he ever hit them with a paddle or any other object, Olubobokun replied “I did not.”

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He took the stand on Tuesday during the continuation of his Saskatoon provincial court trial, which began in June 2024.

The Crown had closed its case when the trial was adjourned to October for defence evidence. It did not proceed.

At the time, Olubobokun was represented by defence lawyer Daniel Tangjerd. Ron Piché was retained shortly after. On Tuesday, he told court the defence would be calling the accused and three other witnesses over the next three days.

Olubobokun, 64, is charged with nine counts of assault with a weapon. He’s accused of hitting former students with a wooden paddle while they attended Christian Centre Academy in the 2000s.

Many of the students testified that they were told they were being punished for disobeying authority, and paddles were sold to parents at the school’s affiliated church, then Saskatoon Christian Centre.

The private north-end school had been renamed to Legacy Christian Academy when allegations started coming out in 2022. It’s now called Valour Academy.

Olubobokun testified that he joined the church in 1987 and became a deacon in 1992. He said paddles were removed from the school after he became director in 2003 to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on corporal punishment.

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He said before that, Pastor Keith Johnson had a “child training” manual that included “scriptural discipline” with a paddle.

“The director answered to the pastor. The director answered to Keith Johnson,” Olubobokun said when defining the school’s hierarchy. He said he left the school in 2007 over a disagreement with Johnson, who ran the school and church.

He testified that the discipline structure began with a warning, demerits, a caution, detention and then paddling.

Brothers Cole, Coy and Cody Nolin testified that they were all hit on numerous occasions.

Cody said he was kicked out of the school for refusing to get paddled. When he was allowed back in 2003, he said Olubobokun hit him with a paddle and accused him of “padding” his pants when he didn’t cry.

Cole said Olubobokun hit him with a paddle hundreds of times when he was 12 years old. He described one instance of being hit at home for not completing his daily devotions.

Coy testified to being hit six times for a rumour he was accused of starting before he was hospitalized in 2003, and for disobeying authority when he told Olubobokun to leave his hospital room.

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Olubobokun said he visited Coy in the hospital, but denied being kicked out by a nurse for refusing to leave. He said there was a disruption from a friend who said Coy didn’t want to read the Bible or pray, which took him by surprise. 

Coy said Olubobokun hit him three more times at his home while speaking in tongues in an attempt to get the “gay daemon” out of him after he admitted to having a sexual relationship with another male student.

Scoffs were heard in the courtroom when the former director said he never hit the brothers with a paddle or went to their home for any reason. He said home visits were sometimes made at either a parent or pastor’s request, and the parents were always present.

Caitlin Erickson testified about five or six occasions when Olubobokun hit her for refusing to give him the name of the male nurse who removed him from Coy’s hospital room, for refusing to take the blame for his daughter’s angry outburst in a bathroom during a volleyball game, and for an accusation of lying about a classmate’s suicidal ideations.

She said sometimes, her volleyball coach was in his office when she was hit. Olubobokun denied ever hitting Erickson, either while she was alone or in the presence of someone else, and said he always kept his office door ajar when meeting with students, especially Erickson.

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“With Caitlin Erickson, you take everything she says with 10 grains of salt,” Olubobokun told Crown prosecutor Sheryl Fillo during cross-examination.

He said he was in charge of “spiritual and scriptural oversight and administration,” and the director position was above the principal, who oversaw the “nitty-gritty” workings at the school.

“In terms of the students, how were you involved with discipline?” Fillo asked. Olubobokun initially said he had no involvement, then clarified that he was sometimes involved with suspensions.

He said he didn’t have a paddle in his office because it was the principal’s job to dole out physical discipline.

Fillo showed him a letter he wrote in 2004 that said he would give Coy “scriptural discipline” when he was released from hospital for sharing inappropriate jokes around school.

Olubobokun said this would have been the first time he paddled a male student as director, but the discipline never happened.

Fillo questioned why he would paddle a student if it was the principal’s duty, suggesting that he’d been paddling students all along. Olubobokun said just because he’d never done it, doesn’t mean he couldn’t do it.

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“I was a man under orders,” he replied.

Olubobokun said he learned about family abuse allegations while investigating Coy’s involvement in the jokes. He said that led to an adults-only meeting at another family’s home. None of it focused on homosexuality because he didn’t know Coy was gay, Olubobokun testified.

He told Fillo that they likely prayed in tongues during the meeting, which is typical in charismatic Christianity. He said he doesn’t recall ever praying in tongues with students.

Olubobokun is one of four ex-administrators charged in 2023 with historical assaults after former students filed a $25 million class action lawsuit alleging physical and sexual abuse at the school. 

Ken Schultz, who was director before Olubobokun, is charged with sexual assault and assault with a weapon. Duff Friesen, the school’s former principal, is charged with 11 counts of assault with a weapon.

Their King’s Bench jury trials are scheduled for May.

Fillo will continue her cross-examination on Wednesday.

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