A disgraced former high school football coach will learn his fate in a Winnipeg courtroom Monday afternoon.
Kelsey McKay pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault and two counts of luring last July. He originally faced a total of 30 charges — which included sexual exploitation and harassment — but the rest were stayed.
At a hearing in March of this year, the Crown asked for a sentence of 25 years in prison for McKay, 53, describing him as having conducted an unrelenting, decade-long campaign of grooming and assaults on teenage boys.
McKay’s lawyers called that excessive and have called for 13 years and change.
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The assaults — on victims ranging in age from 13 to 18 — took place in the 2000s while McKay was coaching football and teaching physical education at two Winnipeg high schools, Vincent Massey Collegiate and Churchill High School.
Prosecutors said he abused a position of trust and authority to groom the boys and in some cases plied them with alcohol and showed them pornography.
One victim told the court earlier this year that he struggles with suicide ideation and drug and alcohol abuse, while another died by suicide after the charges came out publicly.
Members of the Winnipeg football community and advocates for victims of sexual assault have described McKay, once a respected figure in high school sports, as a predator.
McKay had no prior criminal record before these charges came to light, and no history of substance abuse or mental health concerns.
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