Teachers and students at a Toronto high school are facing a range of emotions following the weekend suicide of a teacher charged last week with sex-related offences.
"He was extremely good man and a brilliant teacher -- and he was driven to his death. And I'm very sad about this," Jarvis Collegiate teacher Mary Jane Purcell told CTV Toronto on Monday about David Dewees.
"A lot of children are going to be very sad. There's going to be different stages of grief, and I'm angry."
Toronto District Public School Board superintendent Andrea Alimi told reporters that Dewees was "a highly respected, highly valued member of the Jarvis Collegiate community and Toronto District School Board, and this is a sad loss for us."
Students described the whole situation as shocking and distressing.
Grief counsellors and psychologists were at the school to help staff and students.
Dewees came into the public eye on Thursday. Toronto police held a news conference to say he had been charged with four Criminal Code offences, two of invitation to sexual touching and two of Internet luring.
Police alleged that he had befriended two boys under the age of 16 he met at Ontario Pioneer Camp in Port Sydney. He had been a volunteer at the Christian camp, which is located southwest of Huntsville, since 1997.
The charges pertain to online communications that Dewees allegedly had with the youths. Police did not allege there was any inappropriate physical contact.
On Friday, a judge released Dewees on $25,000 bail, ordering him to stay away from children and off the Internet. The TDSB suspended him with pay.
On Saturday, Dewees lay on the tracks at the TTC's High Park subway station, where a subway train ran over him.
A group of 60 students held a gathering outside the station on Monday afternoon, many sobbing. A note at the scene simply said: "A good man died here." Some students pointed an accusatory finger at the police and news media.
Members of Dewees' family didn't answer when reporters knocked on the door of their High Park home.
Police said Monday the investigation into Dewees' case is still considered active as they suspect there may be more alleged victims, although the four charges against him will be withdrawn. His two alleged victims have been notified about Dewees' death.
With a report from CTV Toronto's John Musselman