Image Credit: Pixabay
August 10, 2025 - 4:00 PM
CONTENT ADVISORY
A Kootenay teacher convicted for sexually assaulting his girlfriend has been banned from teaching for 10 years.
According to an Aug. 5 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, Shay Bernard Crawford was charged with sexual assault in 2021 and notified the Southeast Kootenay School District shortly afterwards.
He was put on an indefinite suspension as his charge progressed through the Cranbrook courthouse.
In August 2022, Crawford was convicted for one count of sexually assaulting his then-partner.
In court, Crawford argued he had the honest but mistaken belief in communicated consent when the couple had anal sex. The court heard his girlfriend told him to stop, which he did, but then he proceeded.
"Crawford was found to have been reckless or willfully blind to the complainant’s non-consent. The judge found he did not take reasonable steps to ascertain whether the complainant consented to anal penetration," court documents say. "The judge found that after the sexual assault, Mr. Crawford blamed the complainant for the offence, asking why she did not say 'no' earlier."
Crown prosecutors wanted two-and-a-half years jail, but he was sentenced to two years house arrest.
Crawford appealed his conviction but in January, the BC Court of Appeal dismissed it.
The teaching regulator barred Crawford from applying for his teaching licence for 10 years.
"Crawford is presently not a person of good moral character and otherwise fit and proper to work as a teacher in a position of trust and authority," the regulator said.
NOTE TO READERS: To connect with a victim service program or violence against women program call VictimLink BC at 1-800-563-0808. VictimLink BC provides information and referrals to all victims, as well as immediate crisis response to victims of sexual and family violence.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
News from © iNFOnews, 2025