The disgraced former Whitecaps women's coach will serve 16 months in jail and eight months under house arrest for sexually offending against four teenaged players over a 20-year period.
Disgraced former Vancouver Whitecaps women’s soccer coach Bob Birarda was sentenced Wednesday to two years in custody – including 16 months in jail and eight months of a conditional sentence – for sexual offences involving teenaged girls.
Before reading her decision, Gaffar addressed the court, saying she is aware Birarda's case has garnered significant public attention. "I'm acutely aware that this sentencing process and outcome will not meet the expectations of many, regardless of the amount of incarceration imposed. For some, the period of incarceration will never be enough. For others, it will be too much," she said.
The judge described how Birarda began by praising the teens’ skills as soccer players and phoning and texting them at home to talk about soccer. But Birarda turned the conversations to become personal, eventually pursuing the teen players off the soccer pitch and pressuring them to have sexual relationships with him.
During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor told the judge Birarda’s position in the soccer community was an aggravating factor in the case. “He held an incredible amount of power in that community,” she said. "He wasn’t a neighbourhood coach on a Saturday afternoon team . . . He'd been to four World cups. He was the person you had to go through in order to progress."
“I apologize for the harm I have caused and for the disgrace and embarrassment I have brought to the sport that I love,” he said.
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