He was a celebrity pastor at one of Canada’s biggest megachurches. Inside the sexual abuse allegations that brought down Bruxy Cavey, an investigation found “a case of a man who was clearly a predator.”
Now, four years after Cavey was fired and police opened an investigation into how the church handled allegations of abuse, it’s time to look back and ask: Was he a predator?
In 2015, Cavey was charged with two counts of sexual assault in relation to two incidents involving his wife. After that allegations surfaced, his family released a statement, saying Cavey was the victim of a “vicious and highly-publicized smear campaign” and a “well-publicized and highly publicized witch hunt.”
The allegations were published, not by the police, but by the press, with the victim’s name and pictures plastered across media outlets. The public was made to believe that the victim would release her own statement.
(CBC)
According to news organization Global News, “Cavey was married to his wife, Andrea Bruyere, but their marriage was ‘hijacked and marred by accusations and allegations’ at their tiny rural-based church in the Ottawa Valley.”
At the time of that press release, the news outlet reported the alleged victim “says she was only a volunteer in the ministry and never performed any of the sexual acts with Cavey.”
CBC News has since confirmed to me that the alleged victim, who is now 25 years old, submitted her own statement to the police.
“I’ve been a victim of abuse before,” she said in a letter to the police, referring to similar experiences she’s had with her friend. “I am speaking out now to let people know what I’ve experienced.”
The woman didn’t tell her family or friends about the incident until she was 25 years old.
It was only after speaking to her friends and a mental health counsellor that she realized she had been abused.
“I didn’t tell anyone because I