Man testifies he witnessed prominent Toronto pastor perform sex act on friend

KENTVILLE, N.S. — A man testifying at the trial of a well-known Toronto pastor says he saw the religious leader perform a sexual act on a teenage male at a Nova Scotia home decades ago.

The man was on the stand in Kentville provincial court today for the trial of Rev. Brent Hawkes, an influential gay rights advocate who officiated at former NDP leader Jack Layton's state funeral in 2011.

The witness said he knew Hawkes in the 1970s, when he was a student and Hawkes was a high school basketball coach in the Annapolis Valley.

He said he was about 16 years old when he witnessed Hawkes perform oral sex on one of his friends at the reverend's home.

Hawkes has pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault and gross indecency related to allegations that he sexually assaulted a minor in Nova Scotia in the 1970s.

Nova Scotia's Public Prosecution Service has said the alleged victim was 15 or 16 years old at the time.

The Canadian Press