http://www.leaderpost.com/news/First+Nations+medicine+charged+with+sexually+assaulting+teenaged+girl/2273432/story.htmlMy start new topic button is non existent for the fraud section so I hope an administrator can move this up to the fraud section. Both the defense lawyer and Buffalo in this case are way off the page. The lawyer attacks the girl's integrity in a very nasty way. Buffalo true to sex offender form blames the victim and minimizes his actions. Most frauds are kooks this one is dangerous.He lives with his common law on Gordon First Nation but he is a member of Day Star.
REGINA — A cure for "bad medicine" has landed a First Nations medicine man and pipe carrier in court charged with sexually assaulting a teenaged girl.
But defence lawyer Dave Andrews argues there was nothing sexual about the private, late-night "cleansing-healing-type ceremony" Dennis Buffalo performed on the 18-year-old girl three years ago, and that many of the girl's claims are either exaggerated or untrue.
"All he wanted to do was help, but he got himself into a real mess here," Andrews said.
Prosecutor Sonya Guiboche describes the case as a sexual assault perpetrated by a man in authority against a trusting and vulnerable young girl.
The trial was heard in Yorkton, but was brought to Regina for closing arguments. Buffalo and the complainant were the only two witnesses who testified at the trial.
During the trial, court heard that Buffalo called the girl's mother in December 2006, saying he had a vision that a jealous old woman had "blown some particles" toward the girl, and that the teen would have problems because of it.
Though she thought it was "stupid," the girl agreed to take part in a ceremony to take care of the woman's bad medicine.
Court heard that Buffalo took the teen to his house on the Gordon First Nation late in the evening, where he prepared a medicine bath for the girl and provided her with a shirt and skirt to put on afterward.
The girl testified the shirt was see-through, and made her uncomfortable because it showed her breasts. Buffalo testified he was focussed on the ceremony, and didn't notice what shirt he gave to the girl.
After the bath, Buffalo smudged around the girl with smoke, touched her with feathers, and blew smoke onto various parts of her body.
The girl testified Buffalo told her to unbutton her shirt, and then sucked and kissed her breasts and touched her vagina with his mouth and fingers.
Buffalo denies the sexual touching, but he does admit to sucking the girl's tailbone area, and claims he drew out something from her body, which he then spit into a garbage can.
Buffalo also testified he saw pebbles appearing on the girl's stomach, which he pulled off and disposed of in an ashtray.
The girl said the particles looked like lint.
Buffalo also kissed the girl before driving her home.
The girl testified Buffalo had kissed her once during a ceremony when she was 13, but she was confused at the time about what it meant. After talking to a female relative about it, the girl decided she was over-reacting, and didn't take any further action.
Buffalo has a previous conviction for sexual assaulting a young female.But Andrews said the girl's testimony is not reliable, and contained "a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense."
"This young lady is quite capable of exaggerating things and trying to manipulate things that are not necessarily the truth," Andrews said.
The girl previously made a sexual assault allegation against another man in an unrelated incident, but she later withdrew the allegation.
Andrews said non-native society "probably has some problems with the whole idea" of such a ceremony, but maintains that what occurred "did not cross any lines."
"His object throughout this has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of sexual gratification or taking advantage of a young person...," Andrews said. "He only wanted to help."
Guiboche said the girl was shocked at the suggestion she could be lying, and described it being extremely difficult to tell her family what had occurred.
Guiboche said Buffalo was well-respected and trusted by the girl's family, and was in a position of authority over the teen. Guiboche likened the situation to a doctor-patient relationship.
"He's in the driver's seat. He's in control. She followed the rules that he set out," she said.
Justice Catherine Dawson adjourned the matter until Dec. 23 for her decision.
