Disgraced coach apologizes to victims for ‘hurt, grief, shame and sorrow’ Sentencing hearing continues for high school leader who sexually abused students By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 6:51 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2024

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a full day of lawyers telling a judge how long he should go to prison, disgraced high school football coach Kelsey McKay stepped up to a microphone late Wednesday afternoon and apologized for his “betrayal” of the young athletes he sexually abused over the course of a decade.

“I would like to apologize to all the victims and their families for the hurt, grief, shame and sorrow that I have caused them,” McKay said, reading from prepared notes, his back to several victims and their family members seated in the court gallery.

“I know this hurt and betrayal will affect them all for the rest of their lives,” McKay said. “One hundred per cent of the responsibility lies with me. My goal for the future is to learn more about myself and the cause, events and circumstances that regretfully have brought us all to this moment. With this continued evolution and education of myself, in the future I will be a positive and responsible member of our community and society.”

McKay pleaded guilty last July to nine counts of sexual assault and two counts of luring in relation to nine teenage victims he had coached during his years at Vincent Massey Collegiate and Churchill High School.

 

The offences he admitted to happened 10 to 20 years ago, when McKay was in his 30s and 40s. Most of his victims were between the ages of 15 and 18.

Prosecutor Katie Dojack has recommended provincial court Judge Ray Wyant sentence McKay to 25 years in prison, while defence lawyers Josh Weinstein and Lisa LaBossiere urged Wyant to consider a sentence of just over 13 years.

Wyant will sentence McKay at a later date. McKay remains free on bail.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, McKay targeted both students and athletes he coached and was known to give special attention to students who had difficult home lives or absent parents.

McKay invited teen victims to his home to “hang out” and watch football or movies. He hosted team hot tub parties, provided his victims with alcohol, and showed some of them pornography. McKay’s behaviour escalated to providing one-on-one sexual massages and masturbating some victims. McKay gave nicknames to some of his victims’ genitals, sent them sexualized text messages and would ask them to kiss him on the cheek.

Several victims described feeling frozen when McKay assaulted them, not knowing how to fend off his advances.

Much of the sentencing debate Wednesday centred on discussion of the 2020 Supreme Court of Canada decision known as Friesen, which ruled that sentences for child sex offenders should increase as society’s understanding of the great harm inflicted on children deepens.

Weinstein and LaBossiere argued the 25-year sentence recommended by the Crown was far too harsh, even with the Friesen “reset,” and pointed to several cases both pre- and post-Friesen they argued resulted in lower sentences for more serous offences.

“Twenty-five years in a penitentiary is excessive, it’s crushing and cannot be the result of a measured, reasoned analysis,” LaBossiere said.

Defence submissions included little reference to McKay’s personal history, except to indicate he has an Indigenous background and was raised in a stable, two-parent household.

Weinstein said McKay’s entry of guilty pleas before he knew what sentence the Crown would be seeking was a significant expression of remorse.

“This was never set for trial, that was never the discussion,” Weinstein said. “This isn’t someone who held out and said let’s wait and see how many victims show up (for trial).”

“Twenty-five years in a penitentiary is excessive, it’s crushing and cannot be the result of a measured, reasoned analysis.”–Defence lawyer Lisa LaBossiere

Dojack argued a pre-sentence report and forensic risk assessment provided to court show McKay has little insight into the harm he caused his victims, one of whom took his own life after McKay was arrested in April 2022.

In one of the reports, McKay maintained he had never used violence or force against his victims, and characterized his actions as “taking your admiration too far,” because he was lonely and physically attracted to the victims.

“He is still to this day trying to characterize his egregious offending as non-violent … despite the many, many acts of sexual violence against children,” Dojack said. “The lack of insight present … should be a concern.”

The forensic risk assessment found McKay was a “low-to-moderate” risk to reoffend sexually and characterized McKay’s actions as “out of character” and “atypical.”

“This was not an isolated incident, nor was it out of character,” Dojack said. “This pattern of behaviour over years defined his character.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca