Dudley Taylor has been found guilty of molesting his girlfriend’s four children 20 years ago.
Taylor, 70, spent two decades running from the words he heard in court Thursday morning, where he sat hunched and clutching a hearing device he’s used during his four-day trial.
Justice R.J. Haines pronounced him guilty of sexually assaulting three boys and one girl between 1988 and 1989.
All four victims resurrected painful memories of their broken childhood earlier in the week.
Back in 1990, the family lived a mostly itinerant lifestyle, and moved three times during their two years in Whitehorse.
Their mother thought Taylor was a good father figure for the kids.
But on March 22, 1990, the eldest boy, 13, and the girl, 11, told their mother what they had earlier revealed to each other; Taylor was performing oral and anal sex on them on a routine basis.
The second-oldest boy told police about similar assaults, and Taylor was arrested and charged that same day.
Taylor attended a preliminary court hearing in May 1990, but then he disappeared.
Taylor had to explain that decision in court this week, and his excuses cost him his case.
Taylor claimed to have never attended the preliminary court hearing, despite documents proving that he was present.
He never knew how serious the allegations were, he said on Tuesday, and a friend said he would clean up the legal mess for him while he fled off to Texas to visit a terminally ill cousin.
Taylor thought skipping town would only forfeit his bail and he had little experience with court, his lawyer said, despite the fact he changed his bail residence twice through legal means.
Taylor also claimed it was a lawyer who told him to run away. But he couldn’t remember the name of the lawyer, or his office’s location.
Taylor never came back and was eventually caught in Tonasket, Washington, last September living under the name Dwayne.
These attempts to evade the law caused Haines to reject Taylor’s version of events, especially in light of the convincing and candid testimony of the victims.
Their memories were hazy and the timelines were inconsistent at times, Haines said in his decision.
Some of their testimony conflicted with what they told police in 1990.
The youngest boy, whose sexual assault charge only came to court this week, believed he never told his mother of his encounter with Taylor, despite court documents suggesting otherwise.
But those inconsistencies are understandable for adults dealing with memories that happened 20 years ago, said Haines.
The victims were reluctant witnesses who would have preferred being somewhere else, he said.
Taylor has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Contact James Munson at
jamesm@yukon-news.com.