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During a May 2018 disciplinary hearing, a teachers’ association presenting officer said Martial was the girl’s Grade 7 teacher at an Edmonton public school in 2010-11. The following year, while Martial taught at a different school, he stayed in contact with the girl and became friends with her parents.

When she was in Grade 9, the girl’s parents hired Martial to tutor her. Over a two-year period, the teacher and the girl used the messaging app Kik to communicate about 88,000 times, and they exchanged numerous phone calls, the committee heard.

The sexual interference included intercourse and other sexual acts, the written decision said. She was 13 and he was 47.

Police investigated for nine months and charged Martial on Sept. 9, 2015, the decision said.

“Martial abused his position of authority and responsibility. His actions included a lengthy period of grooming and manipulation of (the student),” the committee found.

The relationship had a “severe negative impact” on the student’s life and ability to have age-appropriate relationships, the committee said.

The public needs assurance the association won’t tolerate “repugnant” behaviour, committee members wrote.

Backlog of withheld written decisions

The education minister’s press secretary, Colin Aitchison, said privacy law prevents him from saying whether the education minister of the day did, in fact, revoke Martial’s teaching certificate.

Teacher discipline documents obtained last year by Postmedia through a freedom of information request include an Aug. 14, 2018, letter from then-education minister David Eggen informing a teacher convicted of two criminal offences that he is cancelling his teaching certificate. The name of the teacher is redacted from the letter.

Although the teachers’ association panel made a decision about Martial’s penalty in June 2018, the association only released the written decision last week. The association is working through a backlog of withheld written decisions after privacy concerns prompted them to hit pause on releasing information.

jfrench@postmedia.com