Choose your words carefully.
An Ottawa journalist drew the ire of the Internet when he used the word “tryst” to describe the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old pupil by her 29-year-old teacher. Phillip Nolan, a music teacher who taught Grade 7 and Grade 8 students and played drums in a band with former prime minister Stephen Harper, was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual interference with a former pupil.
To which Ottawa Sun reporter Tony Spears tweeted yesterday, “Ex-PM Stephen Harper’s former drummer Phillip Nolan has been sentenced to TWO YEARS in jail for tryst with then-13-yo girl student.”
Critics took Spears to task for that choice of word yesterday. Spears defended himself, arguing that Nolan had created the illusion of a relationship. As for his use of the word “tryst,” Spears wrote: “That’s EXACTLY what it was, subjectively, while it was happening.”
Judge Ann Alder of the Ontario Court saw it in somewhat clearer terms, saying of Nolan, “He befriended the victim, he manipulated a 13-year-old child who, as evidenced by her own letters, believed that this was a relationship when in reality it was simply sexual child abuse.” (more...)
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