Evidence in the case against Karen Bagshaw has been delayed because of legal issues.

The former educational assistant with Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board is charged with two counts each of sexual exploitation, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, as well as luring, accessing child pornography and making sexually explicit material available.

Assistant Crown attorney Lisa Wannamaker opened the judge-alone trial on Monday in the Superior Court of Justice in Peterborough by giving a brief overview of the case against the 58-year-old.

The alleged sexual assaults occurred between 2013 and 2015 against two male teens, Wannamaker told the court.

A publication ban prevents media outlets from reporting the names of the complainants or civilian witnesses who will testify at the trial.

Bagshaw first met the boys when they were in Grades 7 and 8, Wannamaker told court. She was later an educational assistant at two different Peterborough high schools attended by the teens.

Wannamaker anticipates the judge will hear how Bagshaw befriended a group of vulnerable teens and would buy them drugs, booze, food and clothes. As well, she said, Bagshaw partied with the boys in hotels and had sexual relations with two of them.

The court heard that one of the teens who is not a complainant reported Bagshaw to Peterborough police, stating there was video of Bagshaw having sex with the boys at a hotel.

Bagshaw was arrested by police at the Peterborough high school where she was working in December 2016. According to a statement from the school board at the time, she was removed from all workplaces within the board.

Following the Crown's opening remarks, the prosecutor, defence counsel and Justice Chris de Sa discussed legal issues.

David Barrison, Bagshaw's lawyer, has filed an application claiming she was coerced into giving her statement. Barrison also filed an application stating his client's rights were violated under Sec. 10 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that "everyone has the right on arrest or detention ... to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right."

The judge is expected to rule on the application on Tuesday, with the first witness to follow.