Disgraced former high school football coach Kelsey McKay will learn Monday afternoon how many years he will serve in prison for sexually abusing teenage players under his wing.
McKay pleaded guilty in July 2023 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.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Kelsey McKay pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault and two counts of luring in July 2023.
Crown 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.
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.
At a sentencing hearing in March, McKay apologized for his “betrayal” of the young athletes.
“One hundred per cent of the responsibility lies with me,” McKay said, reading from prepared notes, his back to several victims and their family members seated in the court gallery.
“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,” McKay said. “With this continued evolution and education of myself, in the future I will be a positive and responsible member of our community and society.”
Several of McKay’s now adult victims and family members told court how McKay’s abuse sent their lives on a downward spiral of substance abuse, depression and shattered marriages.
“I feel the effects of what happened to this day,” one man, now in his 30s, told court. “I hid this abuse for 15 years, I tried to pretend it didn’t happen.”
One of McKay’s victims committed suicide three months after providing a statement to police in April 2022 about the abuse he suffered.
“He has absolutely destroyed parts of my life that I will never get back,” the man said in an audio recording of his police statement provided to court.
“There were so many other people, that’s what really gets to me,” the man told investigators. “I feel I could have done so much more… I’m sorry it took me so long to say something.”
Asked what he would tell McKay if given the opportunity, the man urged McKay to seek help.
“I don’t hate you, I hate what you did,” the man said. “You are a good person, you have shown it, but you can be a very bad person, too. What you did is absolutely unforgivable and sickening. There is no way anybody is going to heal from this, the way you conducted yourself. But I hope you get the help that you need.”
The man committed suicide less than three months later.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.