A former student at Legacy Christian Academy testified court On Monday, he said the school's former principal beat him with a wooden paddle because he was gay.
John Olugbobokun, former president of Heritage Christian College He was charged with nine counts of armed assault. He was also charged in a $25 million lawsuit against the Mile-Two Church, which operates the school.
In June 2023, Olubobokun turned himself in to Saskatoon police after a group of former students claimed they were physically and sexually abused by school staff.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
The Nowlin brothers testified against Olugbobokun in a Saskatoon courtroom on Monday, sharing stories from their time at the school.
The eldest brother, Coy Nolin, told the court that after discovering he was gay, Olugbobokun came to his house and hit him three times with a wooden paddle.
According to Nolin, another student came forward and confessed their relationship and “sins” to Olugbobokun.
He said when he got home, Olugbobokun was waiting for him at home and called him a “disgusting pervert”.
Nolin told the court he remembered Olubobokun and several other members of the Mile-Two church putting their hands on him and starting to “speak in tongues.”
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He claimed it was their attempt to cure him of his homosexuality.
According to Nowlin, Olugbobokun wanted to send him to a church in Edmonton, but his mother took him and his siblings out of school first.
Nowlin's brothers, Cody and Cole, also testified that students were also beaten at school for breaking rules – from talking in class to cheating.
They compared the racket to a cricket bat or a two-by-four board.
“The paddle broke or snapped on me multiple times,” Cole testified.
He claimed that one Saturday, when his mother was not at home, Olugbobokun came to his house and beat him three times for not reading a chapter of the Bible every day.
Cole said he was beaten a total of 254 times by Olugbobokun and other Heritage Christian Academy staff.
In the early 2000s, the brothers transferred from public school to a traditional Christian academy, a change they say was a shock.
Coy described sitting in a cubicle at school, separated from other students, facing the wall, waiting for other students to finish their workbooks.
“They make coloring books for kids, pretending they’re educational books,” Nolin said.
According to the brothers, the school has a strict demerit system for misbehavior. Students who have been demerited multiple times will be given a “warning” and their parents will be required to sign.
Only more serious offenses are punished with a slap, but the brothers said the circumstances of the punishment vary.
“They forced you to bend over a table or chair with your buttocks exposed, and then they would hit you three times on the buttocks,” Nolin's brother Cody testified.
Cody said he once refused to be spanked and was sent to live with his father for a summer. Before being spanked, he was not allowed any contact with his siblings or allowed to return to school.
“They thought I was a corrupting influence on my brothers and sisters, so I was sent away and forbidden to contact them because I might coerce them to rebel as well,” he said.
Cody said his family is everything to him.
“We were not allowed to socialize with anyone outside of church or outside of school,” he testified.
During cross-examination, Olugbobokun’s defence counsel asked why the brothers did not tell their mother about each beating or if their mother suggested they go to another school.
Both Cole and Cody said she already has a lot on her plate as a single mother of four, working two jobs and volunteering at the school lunch program.
The rest of the prosecution's witnesses are expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
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