Young man at centre of N.L. sexual abuse investigation died after testifying

A loretta young adult male who was the accelerator for a police force investigating into accused sexual predators Tony Humby and Bruce Escott has died.

His statement to police in November of 2022 echoed what the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had suspected for three years — that vulnerable teens were being sexually abused and exploited in a trailer park near the airport on the outskirts of St. John’s.

“Tony Humby killed him,” she insisted. “He didn’t put a gun to his head, but if it wasn’t for what happened to him, [my son] would still be alive.”

Humby has pleaded not guilty to 88 charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, human trafficking and more. His trial on 71 counts involving 10 complainants is scheduled to continue later this week. The Crown is expected to rest its case by the end of January.

The young man moved into a group home with other boys when he was around 12 years old. 

He’d later testify in court it wasn’t long before one of the boys brought him to a mobile home near the airport — a place where they could “just chill out,” he testified, “until it turned into something different.”

All three youths who were there that night told the court they’d been smoking weed and drinking alcohol in Humby’s kitchen. Humby began making sexual remarks, they said, and then asked them if they needed money.

The alleged incidents that followed haunted the young man for the rest of his life.

He told the court painful details over three days of testimony, saying he was coerced by money, drugs and alcohol at times. He said he was raped by force on another occasion.

He struggled to keep his composure, storming out on the first morning of his testimony. He returned days later, corroborating details of the stories told by the other two young men who were at Humby’s mobile home with him.

He endured a combative cross-examination in which he was grilled over inconsistencies between his statements to police and his testimony in court — namely whether Humby “tried to” rape him, or actually did it.

There was a palpable sense of relief when the young man finished his testimony last fall.

“He was doing so well, but the trial was so much on him, so hard on him, that he was trying to forget again,” his mother said.  “It was like he was reliving it.”

She said her son turned to drugs — a crutch he often relied on to deal with the trauma of his past. She called him when he didn’t come home one day, and said she heard pain in his voice.

“Everything is just really hard on me right now, mom,” she recalled him saying.

Key witness in Tony Humby trial died after giving testimony last fall

“OK, well come over and we can talk about it,” she replied.

“No mom, I’m just trying to forget about what happened. I have to relive everything again.”

She said he died of a drug overdose the day after their conversation.

His mother was heartbroken.

“He was so smart and so handsome,” she said. “He could have been anything. But this was like a bad cloud that would follow him everywhere he went. He could not forget about what happened.”

The young man began opening up to his mother about the alleged abuse in 2019.

She would later testify that her son began asking questions about the age of consent, which caused her concern. 

When she pressed him further, he started to explain what was happening in the trailer park.

She reported the conversation to his social worker, who forwarded it to the police.

The mother also took matters into her own hands, heading to Humby’s home and barging in through his front door as he stood there in his housecoat.

“I told him that I’d f–king kill him,” she testified in court. “I told him that you touched my kid, you raped my son.”

“How did he react?” the prosecutor asked.

“He didn’t say anything. He just stood there. I guess that’s what was pissing me off. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t say anything. He was just stood there.”

She said her son made her promise not to go there again, and in return he would speak to the police about the alleged abuse.

She kept her promise, hoping he’d someday hold up his end of the bargain.

That untested police affidavit from 2024 provides an account of the force’s case.

The RNC investigated after he opened up to his mother in 2019, but closed the file when he wouldn’t give a statement to investigators.

Almost exactly two years later, the boy was out for a drive with his social worker when they pulled into the parking lot of a bakery in St. John’s. 

“[The boy] disclosed that he was sexually assaulted by a man named Tony Humby when he was younger. He guessed he was about 12 years old,” reads a note from the social worker later included in the affidavit by the RNC to support a search warrant.

The social worker called the police, who came to meet him in the parking lot. 

“Through the window, [the boy] disclosed that he was sexually assaulted by an old man today,” reads a note from the police officer, also contained in the search warrant filings. “[He] did not disclose any other details and broke down crying.”

He went to police headquarters five days later, but left without making a formal statement.

Another year would pass by before the young man followed through on the promise he made to his mom. Documents contained within the search warrant filings show he called the RNC at 9:39 p.m. On Nov. 27, 2022 and again told them he’d been sexually assaulted by Tony Humby.

The force sent an officer to get a statement from him at his group home within an hour.

The young man opened up. In a subsequent interview, he mentioned Bruce Escott — a former firefighter and taxi driver who would bring boys to and from Humby’s house. This was the first time police had Escott’s name on the record from a complainant, an RNC investigator later testified during the Humby trial.

Humby and Escott were arrested on April 6, 2023. The investigation exploded after news of their arrests hit the media, resulting in complainants coming forward with allegations dating back to the 1990s.

Bruce Escott eventually pleaded guilty to seven sexual offences involving six complainants between the ages of 13 and 18. The agreed statement of facts painted a picture of a man who preyed on vulnerable teens with addictions issues and little family support.

He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Tony Humby has been on trial since last summer for 71 charges related to 10 complainants — all youths. He’s facing another 17 charges, including eight counts of human trafficking, that will be dealt with after his current trial. 

The mother believes none of this would have happened without her son coming forward. Mixed with indescribable grief is an immense sense of pride for her boy.

“This was a war that he went into, and he went in fighting,” she said. “And this is a war I’m pretty sure he’s going to win.”

Ryan Cooke is a journalist with the Atlantic Investigative Unit, based in St. John's. He can be reached at ryan.cooke@cbc.ca.

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