'I'm here today to take responsibility for my actions and the impact I've had on you,' Birarda says in an apology to his victims
The lawyer for disgraced former Vancouver Whitecaps women’s soccer coach Bob Birarda says he should not spend more than eight months in jail for sexual offences involving teenaged girls.
“The defence has accepted he's got to go to jail. He’s got to have handcuffs put on him and be led out of court. The question really is … what's the right jail [sentence] that's required?” he asked. “You've got someone where there is a low risk of reoffending. He doesn't need to go to jail to protect society. He’s had 14 years to demonstrate that,” he said.
According to an agreed statement of facts jointly submitted by the Crown and defence, Birarda had a pattern of establishing a professional relationship with some of the players he coached before pressuring them into sexual relationships. The earliest charge dates back to 1988 when Birarda was 21 and the victim was 17.In the case of the third victim, he briefly touched her breast while giving her a massage in his apartment following an injury.
Although not an excuse for his behaviour, Birard explained he’d lived with a life-long sense of inadequacy, which affected his judgement and made him selfish, he said.
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