Court hears from victim and mother at trial for Regina teacher accused of sexually exploiting student

High emotions filled a Regina courtroom on the second day of a trial for a former Regina teacher accused of sexually exploiting a female student.

Jeffrey Dumba is facing five counts of sexual exploitation for an alleged virtual communication with a 15-year-old student who attended the school where he was employed. He was arrested in 2021.

Digital evidence found on a laptop, Apple watch, and two cell phones included explicit images which were exchanged between two distinct Snapchat user IDs, which are believed to belong to the alleged victim and accused.

On Tuesday, the alleged victim took the stand. The now 18-year-old reviewed a recording of a preliminary police interview from Sept. 2, 2021 in which she and her mother exchanged the following dialogue:

Mother: “You do understand how wrong this is, right?”

Victim: “Ya, but it’s my fault.”

Mother: “Can I ask why you think it’s your fault?”

Victim: “I added him [on Snapchat].”

Mother: “Did you know who he was when you added him?”

Victim: “No, but I added him.”

The victim described how the correspondence came about, explaining that she added the teacher through the quick add feature of Snapchat, unaware of who he was.

“He asked what I looked like so I sent him a picture and I asked what he looked like and he was like ‘I’m not really a picture person,’” she said.

The alleged communication between the two became sexual after Dumba asked for pictures of the girl without clothes on. The girl expressed that Dumba eventually recognized that she was a student at the school he was employed at.

Dumba responded by saying, “Well there’s a line that’s already been crossed so we may as well just continue,” according to the alleged victim.

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The girl also described some odd interactions between her and Dumba.

“The last day of school he hugged me and said, ‘I can tell we’re gonna be really good friends one day.’”

She then went on to describe the interaction as “awkward because there was so many people around and my friends were talking to me about it because of the rumours about him.”

The victim’s mother also took the stand. Her testimony illustrated a difficult relationship with her daughter, describing it as “non existent” and “very” hostile, citing that she had not seen her daughter since September of 2023.

Following the presentation of the Sept. 2, 2021 recording, the mother tried to explain her thought process in now feeling as though her daughter was at fault.

“I was obviously still in shock, most parents when they get that visit from the police don’t think, ‘Oh my God what did my daughter do,’ it was ‘What was done to my daughter,’ said the mother.

The mother went on to express that she felt as though her 15 year old daughter “sought out” the 49 year old teacher on social media. She explained that she had ‘guilt’ in feeling as though her daughter held a portion of responsibility for the situation.

“She was going on her rampage and I just said, ‘[Victim’s name] I had your back and I’ve stood by you even though I know that you knew who he was when you added him to Snapchat and I didn’t even say that to you. Like I haven’t accused you of anything’ and then she just got mad and was like, ‘You’re a bad mom,’ you sought him out,” the mother said.

“She was calling me a bad mom for not believing she was a victim.”

She went on to express overall frustration for being called to testify.

“I literally was picked up on a warrant today which means I don’t want to be here…so no, did I want to admit that my child sought this out? No. But did I know she has a history with inappropriate relationships with adults? Yes I did….I truly believe that this behaviour is attention seeking and she maybe has a personality disorder.”

Court will resume on Wednesday with continued testimony from the victim followed by cross-examination from the defence.