Arts groups deny allegations made by parents of sex-crime victim

Two Island arts groups and two of their executive members have filed their statements of defence in a civil lawsuit involving a teenage girl who was sexually abused.

The defence documents deny all the allegations made in the suit and allege the girls' parents were negligent in failing to protect their child from the man who abused her.

Aaron Crane was sentenced to six years in prison in January after pleading guilty to sexual interference of a girl who was under 16 at the time.

Crane first met the girl when she was a preteen and he gave her private music lessons. He had additional access to her as a result of other artsactivities in which they both took part, and their relationship escalated to sexual intercourse a few years later.

The victimcannot be identified by court order. That preventspublication of details of the case that would tend to identify her.

After Crane was sent to prison, the girl and her family filed a $1.5-million lawsuit against Crane, the P.E.I. Arts Guild, its chief executive officer Alanna Jankov, Anne and Gilbert Inc., and its producer, Campbell Webster. The musical productionAnne and Gilbert was staged in the Guild facility in Charlottetown, which hosts various arts events.

The suit alleges the defendants should have notified the girl's family, police or Child Protection Services when they first became aware of concerns about Crane, but did not.

The family's suit also alleges that Crane had been involved in inappropriate sexual behaviour with "another female child" several years earlier and that staff were using the word pedophileto describe his actions with the girl at the centre of the lawsuit.

In their statement of defence filed in P.E.I. Supreme Courtthe P.E.I. Arts Guildand Jankov say theytook appropriate steps when an employee notified Jankov that some people "felt uncomfortable with the closeness of the relationship between Craneand [the victim]"but that those concerns "did not make any allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by Crane."

The Guild and Jankovsay they acted appropriately on the information they were provided.

'Inappropriate behaviour'

Anne and Gilbert Inc. and Webster claimCrane is solely responsible for what happened.

In their defence they say,"There were never complaints of sexual impropriety, but were observations of inappropriate behaviour."

They claim to have notified the girl's parents as well as police after aGuild employee first flagged concerns. They also claim to have confronted and warned Crane about his behaviour.

When concerns were raised a second time, according to the statement of defence, the parents and police were notified again, and Crane was forced to resign from his job.

In the statement of defencethe defendants allege the girls' parents "knew or ought to have known that there was inappropriate contact between Aaron Crane and [the girl] and they were negligent in not taking stepsto end the contact and resulting sexual relations."

The statement of defence by Anne and Gilbert Inc. and Campbell Webster includes a counterclaim against the girl's parents, "that their negligence contributed to the loss and damage suffered by the Plaintiffs, in particular their daughter."

Nostatement of defence has been filed yet byCrane.

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