Alberta teacher facing trial kills himself

Alberta teacher facing trial kills himself
Accused of having sex with two girls:

Jim Farrell
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
EDMONTON - Little more than a month after he was
charged with having sex with two female students,
a popular young Edmonton schoolteacher committed
suicide late on Sunday night.
Steven Bradley Smith, 31, was charged on Nov. 4 with
having sex with two girls, one of them under the age
of 14.
Police were summoned to Mr. Smith's house on the
city's western fringe at midnight.
Within an hour and a half, they concluded he had died by
his own hand.
"Smith's death compounds the tragedy of what happened
to my daughter," said the mother of one of Mr. Smith's
alleged victims. Her family was looking forward to the trial.
His death means there now will be no closure, she said.
Students at the school were told Mr. Smith had died,
but not the manner of his death.
When word of the suicide spread through the school, a
number of students went home unable to cope with
their grief.
In a public statement, the school board said Mr. Smith's
death was a tragedy for everyone, and the board
members extended their sympathies to his family.
Charges against Mr. Smith included one of sexual
assault and another of touching with a sexual purpose.
Mr. Smith was suspended from his teaching duties
after the charges were laid.
On Nov. 13, RCMP laid six more charges against
Mr. Smith in relation to alleged attacks on the girls.
© National Post 2005
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News of Steven Bradley Smith's suicide
rocked the community of Spruce Grove
yesterday - a community already reeling
from reports of Smith's alleged sex
crimes.
"It's terrible news," said one woman who
lives a few doors down from Smith's home.
She asked not to be named.
"Of course the allegations were very
upsetting too, but for it to end this way,
around Christmas, is sad."
"I guess now we'll never know if he was
guilty or not," said another anonymous
neighbour. ????????????