Former coach for Vancouver Whitecaps, Canada Soccer pleads guilty in sex assault case
CTV
A former women's coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian national youth teams has pleaded guilty to four sexual offences involving four different people.
A former women's coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian national youth teams has pleaded guilty to four sexual offences involving four different people.
Bob Birarda entered guilty pleas to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation for sexual touching in B.C. Provincial Court on Tuesday morning. He was not present in the North Vancouver courtroom, instead appearing with his lawyers via a video link.
Asked by the judge how he pleaded to each of the four charges, Birarda spoke loudly and clearly, saying “I plead guilty, your honour.”
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Birarda was initially charged in December 2020 with six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault and one count of child luring for alleged offences that took place in North Vancouver, Burnaby and West Vancouver between January 1988 and March 25, 2008.
The charges were updated last week to include six counts of sexual exploitation for sexual touching, three counts of sexual assault and one count of making sexually explicit material available to a child.
More than a dozen women who played for the Whitecaps and were part of Canada's under-20 talent pool around 2008 have come forward to allege Birarda, a former coach for both squads, acted inappropriately with members of the team.
