Former Winnipeg football coach apologizes to players he sexually abused for 'hurt and betrayal'
CBC
WARNING | This story contains details of sexual abuse.
A former high school football coach who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing players apologized to them for the first time in a Winnipeg courtroom on Wednesday.
"I would like to apologize to all the victims and their families for all the hurt, grief, shame and sorrow that I caused them," Kelsey McKay read from a statement during a sentencing hearing in Manitoba provincial court.
"I know this hurt and betrayal will affect them all for the rest of their lives," he said, reading from the statement but not turning around to face the audience as he did.
"One hundred per cent of the responsibility lies with me."
McKay, 53, pleaded guilty last year to 11 charges — nine counts of sexual assault and two charges of luring — in connection with the abuse of nine former football players, most between 15 and 18 years old, he coached between 2003 and 2016.
CBC News is not naming them because of a publication ban.
McKay, who was arrested in April 2022, was a teacher and a prominent figure in Winnipeg's football community. He was promoted to head coach at Churchill High School in 2003 before he went to Vincent Massey Collegiate in Winnipeg in 2009.
In an agreed statement of facts, Crown prosecutor Katie Dojack said McKay would invite players to his home, where he would show them pornography, massage them and touch their genitals.
During their address to Judge Raymond Wyant on Wednesday, McKay's lawyers — Josh Weinstein and Lisa LaBossiere — railed against the 25-year sentence proposed by Dojack, calling it "excessive" and "crushing" given McKay's age and his guilty plea.
LaBossiere said a sentence of just over 13 years would be more "meaningful" for McKay, calling 25 years "a monstrous number" that would surpass what is consistent with his offences.
Weinstein said McKay's guilty plea should be a significant factor "to his credit" in his sentencing, since he did not know what sentence the Crown would seek.
Weinstein also suggested McKay saved the court of resources since he opted not to go to trial.
McKay did not have a criminal record prior to his arrest, but has since suffered emotionally and economically, after losing his employment and his house, Weinstein said.
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