Nearly every day, a quick perusal of Canadian crime and court stories reveals a shocking propensity to give killers and pedophiles a break.
Prison sentences that strain credulity, a “we’re in your corner” approach to violent, twisted offenders.
Not this time.
Take a bow, Judge Raymond Wyant.
On Monday in the judge’s Winnipeg courtroom, there was no break for disgraced former high school football coach Kelsey McKay. None of the lost lamb nonsense so prevalent in the Canadian judicial system.
You see, McKay pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting nine of his football players over 13 years. Obliterating their lives and abandoning them to pick up the pieces.
Some boys could, others could not.
On Monday, Judge Wyant did his bit to bring these broken men a small measure of peace and justice.
He hammered the evil Kelsey McKay to 20 years in prison.
It was already too late for one of the victims: He committed suicide months after coming forward to cops in 2022.
“The guilt lies squarely on the shoulders of Mr. McKay. You were children. You were guiltless,” the judge told the victims. “You put your faith in the hands of someone you saw as a friend, as a mentor, as a teacher, as a coach, as someone larger than life to you.”
The judge took months to render his decision. He said he wanted to ensure his “abject anger that your violation of these kids had on me” did not play a role in the decision. This was his final case.
“You used vulnerability to your advantage in your twisted game. Shame on you, Mr. McKay — shame on you,” Wyant told the ex-coach. “Mr. McKay abused children for his own gratification. There is no excuse for what he has done and there is no cure for the havoc he wreaked.”
This is typically not the way in Canadian courts. Judges are more attuned to sob stories offered up by defence lawyers and a small army of social workers assuring the court, “hey, all is not lost … productive member of society … blah, blah, blah.”
For decades, the courts in this country have blown off sex crimes against children as if all they are is a traffic ticket, not the horrors that the righteous know them to be.
Noted Toronto criminal lawyer Monte MacGregor told the Toronto Sun he believes there is a sea-change “happening when it comes to sentencing for crimes against children
“Typically sentences are based on the specific circumstances of the offence and of the offender. Sexually based offences are particularly heinous and can ruin lives,” MacGregor told the Sun.
“It’s not just a broken arm that will heal with time, it can cause long-term psychological harm that can often never be repaired. Will the sentence be appealed? Likely. Will the appeal be successful? Maybe not.
“Society recently, and the judicial system with it, have realized how damaging these types of offences can be on the victims and as a result, the sentences have been typically getting longer, to address this problem. This is how the law gradually changes over time to conform to societal values.”
Using the pedo playbook, McKay, 54, groomed his victims and preyed up their most vulnerable weaknesses. Some of the boys were as young as 12.
McKay held himself out as a role model and father figure. Players would be invited to his home where he gave them booze and showed them porn. That escalated to massaging them and touching their genitals.
So thank you Judge Raymond Wyant. You are a true mensch.
But MacGregor added: “In the end, it’s only two years and two and a half months for each victim. Is that enough? Probably not. Not if you are looking through the eyes of the victims he preyed upon.”