Ex-Whitecaps coach Birarda to be sentenced – TSN.ca

VANCOUVER – A provincial court judge has sentenced a former football coach to nearly 16 months in prison for sex offenses that caused “immeasurable harm” to four female teenage athletes.

Judge Deanne Gaffar said Bob Birarda, a former Vancouver Whitecaps and Soccer Canada coach, violated the “sexual integrity” of the four players, three of whom were under 18 at the time of the offenses between 1988 and 2008.

Gaffar handed Birarda a sentence of two years less a day on Wednesday. He is scheduled to serve 15 months and 29 days in jail while the remaining eight months of his sentence will be served under a number of conditions including a period of house arrest.

The judge noted that Birarda could potentially be legally released sooner, after which he would serve his suspended sentence.

Birarda, 55, who has lived with his wife for 29 years, pleaded guilty in February to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual touching involving the teenagers.

His early admission of guilt was a mitigating factor in his conviction, while the underlying “power imbalance” in which Birarda’s victims were forced to direct his behavior was an aggravating element, Gaffar said in the North Vancouver courtroom.

Each of the victims was a talented and determined athlete who had tried to play football at a high level before Birarda’s offense, the judge said on Wednesday.

The former coach stands in a position of trust with the victims, who feared rebuffing his interest would harm their football careers, Gaffar said.

Birarda previously read an apology to the victims and everyone else he had let down, including his family, saying there was no excuse or justification for his actions.

He told his hearing earlier this fall that he was filled with “the deepest shame” for the sex offenses, which ranged from having sex with a player when he was their coach in his early 20s to stalking a 17-year-old player when he was 40.

In the latter case, Gaffar said the girl attended Birarda’s football academy between the ages of 11 and 14, and by 2007 the 17-year-old had been selected as a candidate for the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team, where he coached.

It was around this time that Birarda’s communications with her “evolved into a pattern,” the judge said, resembling his previous offences. He sent messages telling the girl that she had put a “spell” on him and she “made him” fall in love with her.

The woman quit soccer on her 18th birthday, Gaffar said.

Birarda’s lawyer, Bill Smart, had advocated an eight-month sentence, while the Crown had recommended a sentence of two years less a day.

Gaffar followed the Crown’s proposal for a harsher sentence, saying Birarda’s victims experienced anxiety, self-doubt and, in some cases, depression into adulthood, and that his behavior affected their ability to trust others.

Birarda briefly put his head in his hands as the judge described the impact his behavior had on one of the victims, saying the woman indicated “she was afraid of him”.

There were also significant mitigating circumstances, Gaffar said, including Birarda’s early admission of guilt, which meant the victims did not have to relive their experiences while testifying, and his demonstration of “deep personal guilt.”

Birarda was counseled to deal with the “disgust and remorse” he feels about his behavior, Gaffar said, adding she accepts the conclusions of two psychological surveys that found he had a low risk of recidivism.

Growing up, Birarda experienced domestic violence at the hands of his father and witnessed his mother and siblings experience the same thing, Gaffar noted.

Birarda was sexually abused by a family member when he was 10 or 11 and later by an older swimmer when he was competing, she said.

He had intermittent suicidal thoughts from 2008 to 2019 and was hospitalized for several days in 2019 for suicidal thoughts.

Gaffar noted that the case has attracted public attention and the stigma attached to the crimes can be seen as a form of punishment alongside jail time.

The judge said Birarda’s attorney has argued that a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada calling for higher penalties for sex offenses against children and young people does not address historic crimes and Birarda is facing more severe penalties today than at the time of the incidents .

But Gaffar didn’t accept that argument in determining Birarda’s verdict, saying the high court’s decision was correct and constituted a “Christmas cry” to adequately reflect the seriousness of such crimes and the moral guilt of the offender.

In the years since Birarda’s crimes, there has been a societal shift in how people view sexual assault, she said, and the Supreme Court’s decision reflects a more modern understanding that requires greater attention to psychological consequences.

Upon her release from prison, Birarda will spend four months under house arrest, then four months under an 8pm to 6am curfew, followed by three years of probation.

Other conditions include no contact with the four victims and he must not be with women under the age of 18, with a handful of specific exceptions.

An absolute ban on coaching was not one of the conditions.

Rather, he is not permitted to participate in coaching or volunteering opportunities for women under the age of 18 without prior written approval.

Birarda was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom after the judge outlined the terms of his sentence.

Gaffar said a further date needed to be set for his defense attorney and the Crown to come forward if he was placed on the sex offender information registry.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 2, 2022.