John Purificati, a former vice-principal at the Orléans school, replied to Despatie saying he knew the allegations were false.Purificati, while retired, still does contract work for the Ottawa Catholic School Board, and was called to the sex-crimes trial as a defence witness for Despatie, who has since changed his last name to Watkins.
Despatie is on trial for 14 sex-crime charges involving four former students, who have all testified against the accused predator. The defence witness also told the judge-alone trial that Despatie is a “good person, cared for the kids, and worked hard.”Article content The former vice-principal testified that he never heard about anything inappropriate when it came to Despatie, the longtime math teacher and celebrated girls’ basketball coach. He said the complaints were usually that Despatie was a tough math teacher.Article content