Two years for destroying lives

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/03/2012 (5272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The courtroom fell silent as Graham James stood up and turned towards the large gallery, his head bowed, not looking at anyone.

One of the most vilified men in Canada then put his hands behind him as two sheriff’s officers handcuffed him.

The snap of cuffs locking shut was the only sound. And with that, a hunched-over James, a shell of the confident and boisterous junior hockey coach he once was, was led away to begin serving two years in prison for repeatedly and systematically sexually abusing former NHL star Theoren Fleury and Todd Holt, Fleury’s younger cousin, when he coached them as teenagers during the 1980s and early 1990s.

“Yay,” one person said as James was escorted out. “Bye Mr. s .”

Fleury and Holt weren’t in the courtroom, but two other men, also victims of James, spoke for them.

“It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful,” Greg Gilhooly — who has gone public with the way James sexually assaulted him while he was a young St. James hockey player — said of seeing the former coach handcuffed. “Now, does it change my life on a go-forward basis? No. But did it put a smile on my face? Abso-friggin-lutely.”

“At least he’s going back to jail,” former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy said, adding he initially expected James would get a non-custodial conditional sentence.

In a joint statement, Holt and Fleury called the sentence — actually two two-year sentences, to be served concurrently — a “national travesty.”

“We know that childhood sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country,” Holt said. “Graham James once again perpetrated his crime and spread his sickness right through the courts of Canada.

“He conned the judge with his ‘poor me’ and ‘I regret’ statements. His lawyer defended the indefensible, and he’s been rewarded for doing so, and Graham James is laughing all the way back to the life he’s always led, knowing that justice for him is but a blip on the radar.”

In her decision, provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson described James as a master manipulator who preyed on Holt and Fleury, coercing sex from them in exchange for keeping alive their dreams of playing professional hockey.

“If they said anything about the assaults, they believed, and in fact it was so, that Mr. James could have put an end to their hockey aspirations,” Carlson said in her decision. “Mr. James could essentially do what he wanted to do to them and could rely on their compliance and silence because he controlled whether they would get the chance at what they really wanted or would have their dreams crushed. And so Mr. Fleury and Mr. Holt became mired in putting up with Mr. James’ sexual assaults on them, and not saying anything about them to anyone, in the hopes that they could just keep playing hockey and maybe, one day, reach the National Hockey League.”

Carlson said James has made strides since his first conviction in 1997, after Kennedy filed his complaint, staying out of trouble and finding a job with a Montreal software company. James was released from prison in 2000 after serving about 18 months of a 31/2-year sentence.

James is eligible for day parole in September, when he will have served six months. He’s eligible for full parole when he serves one-third of his sentence, meaning he could be released in November.

“Whenever he is granted parole, he’ll hopefully have a chance to return to his life,” said James’ lawyer, Evan Roitenberg.

The Crown was seeking a six-year sentence while the defence asked for a conditional sentence with no jail time.

Carlson said in her decision she considered the “relentless” media scrutiny of James.

“Mr. James has experienced an extreme degree of public humiliation,” she said. “Indeed, Mr. James’ career and reputation have been ruined. He is, of course, the author of his own misfortune. But while publicity and stigma are ordinary incidents of the criminal justice system and are not always cause for mitigation of sentence, the fact that the intense media scrutiny of Mr. James has lasted for such a prolonged period of time and has been relentless is a factor to consider.”

She also commented on James learning to cope with his sexual deviancy — he’s attracted to adolescent boys and has a foot fetish — since he was first released from prison.

But Kennedy and Gilhooly said the time James spent in therapy is nothing compared to what they and his other victims have had to endure.

“Sheldon and I have each individually been in therapy longer than Graham will have been consecutively in jail with the first conviction and this go-around,” Gilhooly said. “For Graham to be held out as a rehabilitated individual, it makes a mockery of what the word rehabilitation means.

“He’s a monster. He is who he is. His words mean nothing.”

Kennedy said he’s still in therapy.

“It’s a been a lifetime of working and rehabilitating with counsellors,” he said. “It’s been two-hour sessions a week to just stay on track myself. To sit (in court) and hear that Graham James has been rehabilitated really drives me nuts. I think that was the most disturbing part of it all.”

Kennedy also said the lesson is victims of sexual abuse need to come forward not only to hold their attackers accountable, but to begin to heal.

“Not only do we need to heal and get our power back, but we need to keep coming forward so we can keep raising the bar,” he said, advocating for tougher sentences for sex criminals. “To me, it’s all of us pulling on the rope. We’ve all got to pull on the rope to make the invisible trauma and damage that these issues inflict on victims visible.”

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

‘Mr. James’ victims are multiple. His offences spanned a long time. There were many, many incidents. His behaviour was predatory and deliberately orchestrated to make the victims totally dependent on him. The offences were egregious. He was in a significant position of trust. He was not just the victims’ coach. He was essentially their guardian. There was the extra element of his ensuring compliance and silence of his victims by controlling that which his victims valued most — the chance at a career in professional hockey. His victims have suffered significant and lasting impact. The moral culpability of Mr. James is high’ — Provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson in her decision

‘Yes’ — Graham James in responding that he understood the two-year prison sentence against him.

‘The saddest part is that there are MANY Graham James; different names, in different towns and cities, in your own communities and yes, possibly even in your own families. Yes, I said it. They are everywhere. It is time that the predators know that they need to take notice and be scared — there is no place for you to hide; we are shedding light in those dark corners where you cower’ — Todd Holt and Theoren Fleury in their written response to the sentence

‘If you are outraged by this verdict and I see you are. Never let this conversation die.

Keep elevating till change is made’ — Theoren Fleury’s first response on his Twitter profile @TheoFleury14

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Wednesdays

Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences.

Sign up for Biidaajimowin | News from the Centre

Sign Up

I consent to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies.

I consent to CASL agreement.

‘A lot of good has come out of this. People are getting the message that this is not acceptable in society. Victims should know if they come forward they will be heard, listened to, and they will be acknowledged and not just turfed to the corner. This is becoming increasingly de-stigmatized. Victims everywhere should feel empowered by the fact that Graham can be brought to justice twice’ — Greg Gilhooly, whose criminal complaint against James was stayed by the Crown under a plea bargain

‘Obviously, it’s not a sentence that we all want to see. I think that one thing that is very clear with this is that the invisible trauma that these issues inflict on victims of crime and sexual abuse is something that we really need to make visible, because the sentencing doesn’t come close to the damage it leaves in its wake, and that’s been made very clear to me here today’ — former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy, whose complaint against James resulted in James’ first 31/2-year sentence in 1997.

‘I don’t think there’s any hope for vindication here. I think Mr. James appreciates the nature of the crimes he committed. He wasn’t seeking vindication. Hopefully, when he’s released from custody, he’ll be able to live a life. I think that’s all he wants, and I think that’s all anybody should want for him. Why wouldn’t anybody want him to be able to simply live his life quietly?’ — James’ lawyer Evan Roitenberg