Crown wants 25 years for Manitoba football coach who sexually assaulted students

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WINNIPEG — A disgraced former highschool soccer coach apologized throughout a sentencing listening to for the “grief and disgrace” he brought about to the 9 college students he sexually assaulted.

Nevertheless, the Crown prosecutor is arguing that Kelsey McKay carried out an unrelenting, decade-long marketing campaign of grooming and assaults on teenage boys and a match sentence is 25 years in jail.

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McKay offered a short assertion Wednesday on the finish of a two-day sentencing listening to in Winnipeg provincial court docket.

In entrance of a courtroom that included a few of his victims and their households, McKay apologized and stated he takes his imprisonment as a chance to study extra about himself.

“100 per cent of the duty lies with me,” he stated.

McKay pleaded responsible to 9 counts of sexual assault and two counts of luring final July stemming from prices of dozens of sexual offences from the 12 months prior.

The Crown is in search of a “simply and acceptable” sentence of 25 years given the “psychological and emotional hurt” he inflicted on the previous gamers.

“The offending was unrelenting … This was not a one-time error in judgment,” prosecutor Katie Dojack instructed the court docket.

“(McKay) engaged in a classy marketing campaign of grooming … His offending was insidious, devious and was extremely egregious.”

McKay’s attorneys argued the Crown’s request is extreme and have instructed 13 years and three months.

“This (13 years) shouldn’t be an insignificant quantity. It’s a significant sentence,” stated co-counsel Lisa LaBossiere.

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The assaults occurred within the 2000s whereas McKay was teaching soccer at two Winnipeg excessive faculties. The victims ranged in age from 13 to 18.

Court docket heard McKay was thought-about a father determine to the boys, and that many struggled and didn’t have a constructive relationship with adults at residence.

Dojack stated the soccer coach used his place of belief and authority to groom the boys and in some instances, equipped them with alcohol as a instrument to scale back their inhibitions and confirmed them pornography.

One sufferer instructed the court docket he struggles with suicide ideation and drug and alcohol abuse.

“I attempted to fake I used to be OK. Numbed myself by partying,” the person learn from a sufferer influence assertion on Tuesday.

The person stated he hid the key of the abuse for 15 years earlier than going to police so he might begin his “therapeutic journey.”

He instructed court docket he continues to take drugs every day for psychological well being points and has belief points that resulted in his divorce.

The person claimed McKay groomed him for six years, “only for quarter-hour of a fantasy that brought about me a lifetime of trauma.”

Court docket additionally heard that one of many victims died by suicide after the fees got here out publicly.

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The person’s sister stated she’s been numb since her brother’s dying.

“We’ll by no means get to see how far his abilities might have taken him,” she learn from a sufferer influence assertion.

A compilation of video statements given to police by the person previous to his suicide have been performed in court docket. Within the video, he tells police elements of his life have been destroyed due to the abuse.

McKay is Metis and comes from what he referred to as a secure residence.

An agreed assertion of info stated McKay skilled racism rising up and suffered from abuse outdoors of the house as a toddler.

He has no prior prison report, no historical past of substance abuse or psychological well being considerations.

The decide reserved his determination for a later date.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 20, 2024.

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