Former teacher freed of remaining sexual activity charges

…complainant refuses to testify

Three charges for the offence of engaging in sexual activity with a child by abusing a position of trust were dismissed against former teacher of The Bishops’ High School, Coen Jackson on Friday after the virtual complainant (VC), a female, refused to testify against him.
The 43-year-old man, who was accused of committing the crime back in 2011 against one of his underage female students, appeared before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a 12-member jury at the Sexual Offences Court in Demerara on Friday.
However, according to a statement from the law firm, Hughes, Fields, and Stoby, where Jackson’s lead lawyer Nigel Hughes is a partner, the VC informed the court that she was withdrawing the allegations and no longer pursuing them.

And accordingly, the trial Judge directed the jurors to return formal not guilty verdicts.
This follows his earlier trial in 2022 when he was acquitted by the jury of a similar charge.
“Mr Jackson would like to express his heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to those members of the staff and students of The Bishops’ High School, the Ministry of Education, members of the public, and well-wishers who stood by him during this difficult time,” the statement said.
Jackson, his lawyers shared, is relieved that his position has been vindicated. He has now been cleared of all four charges for the offence that were levelled against him.
He was also represented by attorneys Jerome Khan, Savannah Barnwell, and Sophia Findlay. Attorneys-at-Law Simran Gajraj, Latifah Elliot, and Rbina Christmas were the prosecutors.
Jackson had in an earlier civil suit secured an award of damages in the sum of $5,000,000 for defamation of character against Guyanese author Ruel Johnson, who had accused him of preying on the virtual complainant while she was a student.
Reports indicate that Johnson had been married to one of Jackson’s ex-girlfriends.
Last year, Jackson faced a trial for these same three charges. But with the jury unable to arrive at verdicts, a mistrial was declared and he had to await a new trial.
The prosecution had contended that the teacher and the complainant started to communicate privately in December 2010 via social media.
After some time communicating with each other, Jackson reportedly invited the complainant over to his house under the pretext of watching a “movie”.
The court was further told that it was an inappropriate movie but the virtual complainant stayed and they both watched it. It was then, that sexual contact was allegedly initiated.
Further, between March and April of 2011, the teacher allegedly invited the student over to engage in sexual activity. Jackson, according to statements provided in court, invited the victim, whom he taught economics and business, to his home again on Mother’s Day in 2011, and it was then they reportedly engaged in sexual intercourse for the first time.
The matter surfaced in 2017 after the former student entered into another relationship with a journalist/writer who caused her to realise that she had been abused by her former teacher. In an unsworn statement, Jackson had stated that he did have a relationship with the complainant, however, this began while she was a student at the University of Guyana.
After a Police report was made against the teacher, he was subsequently charged in the Magistrates’ Courts. Particulars of the charges he faced stated that on four occasions in February, March, April, and May of 2011, in the county of Demerara, he engaged in sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 by abusing a position of trust.
The Police instituted charges against Jackson in March 2018. Following a paper committal, two months later he was committed to stand trial for the offence after a city Magistrate ruled that a prima facie case had been made out against him. Jackson, who had always professed his innocence, had been granted $300,000 bail pending the hearing of his trial. (G1)