More jail time for former Ottawa music teacher convicted of sexual assault

Former Bell High School teacher Robert “Bob” Clarke was handed a two-year jail sentence in Ottawa court on Monday, after pleading guilty earlier this year to a sexual assault charge.

The victim cannot be named due to a court-ordered publication ban. He attended Clarke’s music classes at the school between 1983 and 1986.

Clarke has now been convicted of abusing 11 teen boys during his years teaching in the 1970s, 80s and 90s in what is now the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Wearing a puffy coat, a toque and holding a cloth bag with medication and personal items, Clarke, who is now 81, was taken away in handcuffs shortly after Ontario Court Justice Marlyse Dumel read out her sentence.

It was the third time Dumel presided over a case involving the former band leader since 2018.

At that time, she sentenced him to two years after a guilty plea of sexually abusing eight students. When two more victims came forward, there was a subsequent conviction in 2019 while Clarke was in prison. He was given an additional three months in Joyceville Penitentiary.

“The sentence I imposed in 2018 and 2019 would have been higher today,” said the judge.

“What happened to him when he was a child should not have happened,” said Dumel, referring to the survivor who was in the court on Monday.

Crown Attorney AJ Does proposed the two-year sentence, which Dumel said is now at the “low end” of the sentence range for historical sexual assaults.

Does read out a victim impact statement on behalf of the former student.

“You have messed with my head in so many ways I can’t even comprehend. Shame on you, Mr. Clarke,” wrote the survivor describing the shame, guilt and depression he’s suffered since the abuse.

‘Monumental’ outcome

Clarke taught music and led award-winning bands at both Bell High School and Sir Robert Borden High School.

Peter Hamer, the first former student to come forward in 2016 to report Clarke’s abuse, was at the courthouse too on Monday.

Hamer called the two-year jail sentence “monumental.”

“Precedents have been set and laws have matured to actually recognize the impact the sexual assault has on victims and the responsibility that perpetrators have. So it was really good for this victim,” said Hamer.

Paul Lewandowski, Clarke’s lawyer, told the court that his client is a “broken old man” with fading memory and health concerns.

Clarke addressed the court with his own message and apology to the victim, saying he is “truly, deeply sorry” and he wishes he could “undo what I did.”

But Hamer said he has no sympathy for his former teacher.

“I don't care how old he is, he deserves to be held accountable for his actions,” said Hamer who sat with the eleventh survivor in court.

Previous convictions

Over the years, Clarke has pleaded guilty to charges of gross indecency and sexual assault. He inappropriately touched, propositioned or sexually assaulted teenage boys in classrooms, on band trips and in his car.

A CBC investigation in 2018 and the subsequent CBC podcast The Band Played On uncovered stories of victims and unravelled mysteries behind years of allegations. It led to more victims coming forward, and more jail time for Clarke.

Several victims asked the court to lift the publication ban on their names so they could go public and describe what happened to them.

CBC stories revealed that several people had warned teachers and school authorities about Clarke's inappropriate behaviour over the years, but the abuse continued until 1992 when Clarke was forced out of teaching.

CBC also found Clarke had been seen by more than a dozen psychiatrists and psychologists over the years, seeking help for his inappropriate behaviour toward male students. Yet all the while, he continued to teach.