Teen boy says he was blindfolded, chained to bed, sex assault trial hears

BRIDGEWATER, N.S. – A teenager testified today that he was blindfolded and his hands and feet were chained to a bed when he was sexually assaulted by a man at a remote cabin in rural Nova Scotia.

The boy is testifying today at the jury trial of John Leonard MacKean, who has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services from a person under 18.

During the trial before the province’s Supreme Court in Bridgewater, the boy identified a small black sleeping mask and a blanket with wolves on it as items that were at the scene where he says he was sexually assaulted.

His identity is protected by a publication ban.

Earlier today, Crown prosecutor Lloyd Tancock said in his opening statement that he will introduce DNA evidence along with text messages between the accused and one of the men who kept the youth confined in a cabin in Lunenburg County, about 130 kilometres southwest of Halifax.

The 64-year-old MacKean was arrested in November 2012 at a Fredericton hotel and released on bail.

Last June, David James LeBlanc was sentenced in the case to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault, uttering threats and breach of conditions.

An agreed statement of facts in LeBlanc’s case said he offered the boy a painting job and drove him in a van from Halifax to Lunenburg County in September 2012 on the pretext of picking up painting supplies.

The boy later escaped and a woman reported seeing a barefoot teenager at her doorstep, chained at his wrists and ankles.

LeBlanc was arrested in northern Ontario in September 2012 after a Canada-wide manhunt. At the time, police were also searching for 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham, whose body was later found near the area where LeBlanc was arrested. Foul play was not suspected in his death.