Former bus driver denies having sex with teen fare, is grilled by Crown
Bill Kaufmann
Former Calgary Transit bus driver Paul Desmarais is charged with sexually assaulting an underage passenger in 2007.	SunMedia
A Crown prosecutor grilled a former Calgary Transit bus driver Thursday who denied that he had illegal sexual relations with a teen.
After testifying Thursday that he was stalked over months by an underage girl seeking sex on his bus and elsewhere, Paul Desmarais was questioned by Crown prosecutor Pam McCluskey why he never told of or reported the incidents.
"You didn't talk to a union representative or a co-worker about this weird thing, you didn't talk to people at the gym…you're not suspicious enough to report this to your supervisor?" she asked him.
"You didn't document it in case it came back at you?"
Desmarais said he didn't because "I always handle things my own way."
He later told court he kept the incidents of sexual advances by the girl to himself because she'd threatened to make a complaint about him if he resisted her seductions.
"I was afraid if I said anything she'd turn around and and make this big story about me."
Desmarais, 63, is charged with sexual assault and sexual interference with someone under 16 for alleged encounters on his bus and at his home in 2007 and 2008 with a girl who was 14 at the time.
Court has heard the two first met on Desmarais' bus in October, 2007 and befriended each other after he showed her and the youth's friends pictures of his newborn grandchild.
On Thursday, Desmarais said the girl has made repeated advances toward him, demanding he have sex with her on his bus — even offering to strip on a back seat — and another time insisting the two get a motel room.
After rebuffing her, "she said 'we're going to do this, we're going to have sex one way or another or I'm going to say you did," he testified.
Eventually, in the summer of 2008, he threatened to push an audio recording button on the bus if she continued to speak to him sexually.
"She got off the bus and I never saw her again," said Desmarais.
After he hadn't seen her for months, he said a co-worker named Tom told him the girl had asked him what routes Desmarais was driving.
But McCluskey noted Desmarais had chosen to ride alone with the girl on one night in December, 2007 even after the girl had propositioned him.
"You made a judgement call to break the rules and put yourself in an uncomfortable situation…it's a long time for you to be alone after these strange encounters," said McCluskey.
"I didn't want to dump her off downtown somewhere, I just made a judgement call," replied Desmarais.
Testimony in the case wrapped up Thursday and final arguments are expected to take place in September.
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
on Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
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