Man pleads not guilty to attacks on five children
Feb 08, 2010 - 03:16 PM
By Jeff Mitchell
WHITBY -- An Oshawa man took advantage of children left in the care of his wife's babysitting service, the Crown has alleged at the start of his sexual assault trial.
Andrew Luke Rainford is accused of molesting five children between 2001 and 2007 at his central Oshawa home, prosecutor John Pollard said Monday in Superior Court in Whitby. Mr. Rainford, 39, pleaded not guilty to 11 counts, including sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching, at the start of the trial.
Mr. Pollard said evidence will show Mr. Rainford preyed on children entrusted to his wife, Tammy, who ran an unlicensed babysitting service out of her home on Farewell Street, near Olive Avenue.
"If there is a thread to this that is common, it is that Mr. Rainford is alone with the children when this happened," Mr. Pollard said.
Mr. Rainford was charged in June of 2007 with assaults on two girls, aged 5 and 6. A police investigation led to charges involving three more children. At the time, police said the accused man had also been involved in youth activities at a nearby church.
The first witness at the trial was the mother of one of the alleged victims, who said her daughter never revealed any allegations of abuse when she was being cared for at the Rainford home. The woman said she became aware of allegations after the child, then 6, was questioned by Durham police investigating Mr. Rainford.
Names of the alleged victims are protected by a court order. The trial, being heard by Justice Myrna Lack, continues.
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