Substitute teacher sentenced to 7.5 years for child sex abuse offences — in P.E.I. schools and online

WARNING: This story contains disturbing descriptions of child sex abuse. Resources and supports for anyone who has experienced sexual violence can be found at the bottom of this story.

Matthew Craswell, the substitute teacher who has been dubbed a “predator” after he sexually touched students in Prince Edward Island classrooms and exploited his own relationship with another child to create child sex abuse material, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison.

Justice Gregory Cann handed down his decision Monday morning. At a sentencing hearing in the spring, the Crown argued for a sentence closer to a decade, while the defence requested a little more than four years.

“I find it difficult to imagine a higher degree of moral blameworthiness in the context of these offences than that which I believe must be attributed to Mr. Craswell,” Justice Cann told the courtroom in reading his decision from the bench.

“Mr. Craswell engaged in carefully planned and deliberate actions, which cumulatively constituted the offences. While some took more time and care to plan than others, none were reflexive or spontaneous.”

Craswell was in the courtroom Monday. He wore grey pants and a navy blue T-shirt, with shackles at his wrists and ankles. 

Craswell was first arrested in the summer of 2024 after he uploaded a file to a website that was flagged as child sex abuse material — formerly called child pornography. 

The tip was passed on to the P.E.I. RCMP, who went to Craswell’s Cornwall home and seized his computer, hard drives and devices.

At the time, he was charged with both possessing and distributing child pornography. Months later, however, an analysis showed some of the files of a young child’s genitals on Craswell’s devices were original photos Craswell had taken himself.

That victim is known to Craswell, and the parents were able to identify their child based on the underwear and clothing they were wearing in the images. 

Around the same time, officials within P.E.I. ‘s English-language school board were connecting the dots: the man accused of having this material on his computer was also a substitute teacher with the Public School’s Branch (PSB) — and there had been two complaints about his classroom behaviour.

In 2023, a parent at West Kent Elementary School in Charlottetown complained to the school about an incident involving her child. During a round of a made-up game called “hide the ruler,” Craswell “took the rulers out of her pants pocket and, at the same time, touched the area of her breasts and her vagina,” an agreed statement of facts later read.

School leadership never reported the incident to the police, even though the parent believed they had. West Kent administration tried to contact Craswell, but were not successful, so he was marked as “do not call” on the school’s substitute list. 

Craswell was then rehired as a substitute for the next school year, where he went on to sexually touch another student during a classroom game at Glen Stewart Primary School in Stratford in the spring of 2024. 

That incident was also not reported to police until after the first allegations against Craswell emerged. He was also allowed to continue teaching because the PSB did not believe Craswell’s touching of the students was sexual.

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The case sent a shock through P.E.I.’s school system and the provincial government when the details first came to light. 

The premier apologized on the floor of the legislature, the PSB “parted ways” with a senior leader, a third-party review led by a former P.E.I. chief justice was commissioned to look into the handling of the incidents, and new incident tracking systems and a sexual misconduct policy have been brought into place.

While the third-party review by commissioner David Jenkins found the school authorities did not mishandle complaints and that sexual misconduct was not rampant in Island schools, Jenkins said the PSB needed more resources to do its job and called Craswell a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and a predator.

Speaking from the bench for about 40 minutes Monday, Justice Cann made several pointed comments about the position of trust Craswell abused when he should have been assisting and caring for his three child victims — the West Kent student, the Glen Stewart student and the child of whom he captured the sexually abusive photos.

Cann spoke about how Craswell was a person who enjoyed many of the benefits of society, including a positive and loving relationship with his family and access to education that allowed him to earn two university degrees.

That included Craswell’s education degree, which Cann said would have informed him of the “needs and vulnerabilities” of young children.

“Rather than behaving in a manner consistent with that education, he violated the most fundamental philosophy, practice and obligations of the profession of which he was privileged to be a member,” Cann said.

Craswell sat mostly still, watching the judge throughout the sentencing, but that comment made him wince.

“To say that he violated a position of trust … does not even scratch the surface,” Cann read from his decision.

The justice said that violation made the situation worse, but he also found elements of the case that were mitigating towards Craswell’s overall sentence, mainly his early guilty pleas and avoiding going to trial.

“Society was spared the expense of a full trial … children and their families did not have to go through the enormously stressful ordeal of trial,” Cann wrote and read aloud. 

“While nothing can undo Mr. Craswell’s deplorable conduct towards them, the additional trauma of giving witness testimony was rendered unnecessary by his guilty pleas. 

“Mr. Craswell is to be credited for his choice.” 

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Cann also said he accepted and believed Craswell’s expression of remorse at his sentencing hearing, and felt it was corroborated by what the author of a specialized sex offence assessment concluded.

That assessment found Craswell was at twice the risk to reoffend than others who have committed similar crimes, but noted that he has begun treatment.

Cann said he took that higher risk to reoffend into account when deciding on sentencing, but he did reject some of the ideas the defence put forward — including Craswell’s mental health and the fact that his career as a teacher is over forever. 

Both of those were direct consequences of Craswell’s actions, Cann said, since his deteriorating mental health stems mainly from his arrest and the time he’s spent in jail.

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There was only one victim impact statement. It was submitted on behalf of the 2024 victim at West Kent Elementary, but Cann said the harm can also be assumed for the other two victims, as child sex abuse has the potential to do physical psychological harm throughout childhood and into adulthood. 

Other documents filed with the court also touched on the well-being of Craswell’s victims.

The child of whom he took the exploitative images experienced emotional distress in the form of sleep disturbances, bed wetting and angry outbursts. 

The Glen Stewart victim was upset and confused.

And the West Kent student is experiencing withdrawal and communication issues, as well as ongoing expressions of fear, particularly towards adult males.

“The ripple effects may be felt in families, communities and society at large,” Cann noted. 

In total, Craswell was sentenced to 90 months in jail.

He got 15 months for the Glen Stewart incident, 15 months for the offence at West Kent, 12 months for possessing child sex abuse material, 18 months for distributing it, and 30 months for creating new images of the child he knew.

Cann said he considered allowing Craswell to serve some of the child sex abuse material sentences at the same time, but ultimately decided against it.

“Child pornography is most emphatically not a victimless crime. Children are exploited and victimized through its production. Its possession generates demand for more production and consequently increases the risk of abuse of other children,” the justice wrote.

Craswell was given 922 days credit for the 615 days he’s been in provincial custody. 

That means he has already served about a third of his sentence.

Many offenders in the federal system are released after two-thirds of their sentence to serve the remainder in the community under a parole officer.  

Upon his release, Craswell will be a registered sex offender, he can’t have weapons, he’ll have to provide his DNA to a database and he can’t contact his victims. 

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence here’s where to get help: