TRURO, N.S. — A former prison guard at the Nova Institution for Women has learned he is not entitled to have a preliminary inquiry on allegations of sexually assaulting inmates at the Truro facility.
Brian Lee Wilson, 54, of Salmon River faces six charges each of sexual assault and breach of trust by a public official and one count of communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services.
During an appearance in Truro provincial court last month, Wilson elected to be tried in Nova Scotia Supreme Court by a judge and jury. A preliminary inquiry was scheduled for next January in provincial court.
But on Wednesday, provincial court Judge Alain Begin confirmed recent amendments to the Criminal Code mean Wilson does not have a right to a preliminary inquiry on the charges and will go directly to trial in Supreme Court.
Legal counsel will appear in Supreme Court in Truro on May 11 to begin the process of setting trial dates.
Truro police allege Wilson committed the offences between May 2018 and December 2018.
Police received a complaint from the Correctional Service of Canada in March 2019 that Wilson had had inappropriate sexual relationships with several inmates at the Truro prison.
The correctional service had placed Wilson on administrative leave a few months earlier pending an internal investigation into allegations against him by inmates.
Wilson resigned from his job in April 2019, about a month before three current or former inmates of the Nova Institution filed a civil lawsuit against the correctional service in Supreme Court, accusing him of sexual assault between 2013 and 2018. Four other women later joined the lawsuit.
Following a year-long police investigation, Wilson was arrested and charged in May 2020 and released on conditions. He was ordered to have no contact with 29 people.
Earlier this month, a Halifax law firm announced it has launched a class-action lawsuit against the federal attorney general in Supreme Court on behalf of former and current inmates of Canada’s six federal prisons for women.
The suit, filed in the name of former Nova Institution inmate Sara Tessier, alleges the correctional service has failed to protect women from widespread sexual misconduct by prison staff.
Wilson also faces charges in Shelburne provincial court of uttering threats, breaching a court order and breaching a peace bond. Those charges are from incidents in that area last August and September.
