For Ashley Jansen, proving her innocence in court came with little relief after living under the cloud of a false sexual assault allegation for more than a year.
Jansen, who lives in Northumberland County, was arrested in September 2022 and accused of sexually assaulting a student in 2018 when she was working as an educational assistant (EA) at a Clarington school. Jansen was fully acquitted of the charges in an Oshawa courtroom on Nov. 24, but says the verdict doesn’t negate the trauma her and her family have been through since Children’s Aid Society knocked on her door in the summer of 2022 and informed her she could not be in the house with her children.
“We didn’t even know what the allegation was for another two weeks,” said Ashley’s husband, Ken Jansen. “They extracted her from our lives and all they would tell us was that there was ‘an active investigation.’”
From there began 15 months of “pure hell” for the family, according to the couple, which included Ashley losing the dream job she had started after leaving the EA profession in 2019, as well as facing judgments and gossip in the community.
“I had nobody except the people who were immediately in my circle,” Ashley said of the period after the charges were laid. “My life was just in sheer devastation. I was trying to carry the weight of something so horrendous and keeping my kids safe, keeping my marriage safe, keeping my family safe, felt impossible and unbearable.”
It was an ordeal that the Jansens should never have had to endure, according to a ruling from the bench by the Hon. Peter Tetley, presiding judge, on Nov. 24. The judge pointed to several inconsistencies in the complainant’s version of events, including describing the room the alleged incident occurred as having a locked door when it did not, not accurately remembering many details of the incident, changing their statement several times, as well as the complainant’s history of violent and abusive behaviour, as issues that should have led to further investigation.
“The crown’s case consisted solely of testimony provided by the complainant,” he explained.
“The characterization and factual considerations might reasonably have been expected to call for a careful, impartial, comprehensive investigative response to independently confirm certain aspects of the allegation that could be subject to confirmation or verification. Unfortunately, that did not occur despite the foreseeable consequences of this complaint in relation to the defendant, consequences that included loss of employment, loss of reputation in the community, restrictions to the defendant’s ability to care for her own children, compromises to the defendant’s mental health and well-being and marital stress.”
Lawyer Alan Richter said that while the verdict was welcome, it doesn’t change anything the Jansens had to go through.
“The trauma she’s suffered is immense and can’t be overstated; the horror of this type of allegation is immeasurable,” he said. “Being found not guilty doesn’t turn back the clock 14 months. It doesn’t give Miss Jansen and her family their life back.”
Richter also decried the “woefully inadequate” investigation by Durham Region Police officer Amanda Rabishaw that led to the charge, noting that simply interviewing other teachers and staff would have made clear the extent of the child’s behavioural challenges, which included regular violent outbursts that necessitated a class evacuation plan and included a two-person aide team be assigned to them.
“The idea that my client, or frankly anybody, would be alone with the student is ludicrous; there was always two sets of eyes on this student,” Richter continued. “This is not a one-off incident, and it takes away from the legitimate complaints. This complainant was a liar, but unfortunately the same brush will be cast on other complainants, and that’s why police have an obligation to investigate thoroughly.”
The nightmare is far from over for the Jansens, who are dealing not only with the financial fallout of more than $200,000 in legal fees, but also the lasting trauma on the family.
“We went to a parade last weekend and when my three-year-old saw the police she started crying saying they were going to take mommy away,” Ken recalled, noting the impact has been similar on the rest of the couple’s five children.
“We’re really, really having a difficult time with how this was allowed to happen,” Ken said, noting the victim had assaulted Ashley in the past and made multiple threats to other staff members while being restrained during violent outbursts, saying that they would “tell someone you touched me.”
“It’s inhumane what they were allowed to do. My wife’s life is destroyed, our family’s life is destroyed,” he continued, noting both Ashley’s former union and the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board not only did not provide any assistance throughout the ordeal, but several school staff members testified that they were specifically instructed by superiors not to speak to police on the matter.
“I’m afraid for other EAs, truly afraid, because my wife was completely unprotected, not just from the physical assaults — the punching, the kicking, the getting spit on, which happened all the time — but from allegations like this,” Ken said. “We need accountability; we need to sit across the table and ask how this was allowed to happen and how can we prevent it from happening again?”
Ken credits a Durham investigator hired by the family for bringing the truth to light by conducting an investigation he believes should have been completed by police, including talking to staff, visiting the location of the allegations and more.
“The information he sought wasn’t hidden; it was all in my statements,” Ashley said of the investigation, noting she’s still coming to terms with the verdict and what it means for the family’s future.
“The only relief I have is that I feel safe; I feel like can tell my kids every day that I’m going to be home tomorrow. I couldn’t do that two weeks ago. But other than that, I can’t think past this week, I can’t even think past today,” she said. “This will forever change who I am. It’s like a puzzle; we’re trying to put the pieces back together, but there will always be some missing.”
