By CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: February 10, 2011 6:12 AM

B.C. teacher sex trial told of 200 encounters

A former Vernon, B.C., elementary school teacher is on trial for allegedly having more than 200 sexual encounters with one of her students.

Deborah Ashton, now 45, was charged in 2008 with invitation to sexual touching, sexual assault and touching for sexual purposes a person under 14 years of age.

The alleged victim was 12 when the purported relationship began in 2003.

Their sexual relations continued for two years and would take place either at her home, where she lived with her husband and two children, or at the boy's home, Crown prosecutor Neil Flanagan told the court Wednesday.

Not all of the encounters involved intercourse but they were sexual in nature, the court heard.

The young man, now 21, doesn't feel he was forced into a sexual relationship with Ashton, but he was too young to legally consent, Flanagan said.

The trial continues Thursday when friends and family members of the student are scheduled to testify.

With files from the CBC's Aarti Pole and Jackie Sharkey

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