Former ski coach guilty of sex charges

Victims were between the ages of 12 and 19

Former high-performance ski coach Bertrand Charest was found guilty Thursday of 37 of the 57 charges against him in connection with sexual relations with his students. The 57 counts included sexual assault and breach of trust involving 12 females who were between 12 and 19 at the time of the offences and alleged offences.

Charest, 52, was acquitted on 18 charges, while the court said it didn’t have jurisdiction over the two other counts. The guilty verdicts pertained to nine of the 12 complainants. Many of the victims listened alongside family members as Quebec court Judge Sylvain Lepine read out the verdicts for about 40 minutes at the courthouse in Saint-Jerome, north of Montreal.

Charest stood and occasionally shook his head as Lepine addressed the court and the accused appear to mouth a “wow” when the judge finished reading the verdicts.

The allegations dated back to the 1990s and were in connection with events that occurred in Quebec as well as other locations such as Whistler, B.C., New Zealand and the United States.

The offences took place both before and during Charest’s stint with Alpine Canada’s women’s development team between 1996 and 1998.

One of his lawyers, Antonio Cabral, said his client was “disappointed” with the outcome.

“Well, he’s obviously disappointed this morning to have been found guilty of the counts,” Cabral told reporters. “But he stayed positive and we’re going to analyze the decision to see if it is well-founded in law and in facts.”

Crown prosecutor Caroline Lafleur expressed satisfaction with the verdicts.

“The judge looked at the credibility of all the victims and all the witnesses and came to the conclusion they had a lot of credibility,” said Lafleur, adding she will meet with the victims to prepare for sentencing arguments.

Charest has been in custody since his arrest in March 2015.

Several of the complainants testified they had sexual relationships with Charest, with many saying he was controlling and manipulative toward the athletes whose careers he managed.

Some said they felt they were in love with Charest at the time but eventually came to believe they had been manipulated.

One former competitive Canadian skier told the trial Charest took her to have an abortion when she was about 15 after getting pregnant following unprotected sex with him on numerous occasions.

After the abortion, the sexual encounters continued with Charest purchasing contraceptives for her, she said.

The woman, whose identity was under publication ban like the other witnesses, testified she was young and in love with her coach and that Charest advised her to keep their relationship quiet because he would go to prison if it became known. Charest did not testify at the trial. But Cabral told reporters at the end of the proceedings that, while Charest didn’t deny having had sex with some of the girls, the accused disagreed with his portrayal by the Crown and the complainants.

“There were sexual relationships between Mr. Charest and certain of the (alleged) victims,” Cabral said in March.

“What Mr. Charest wasn’t ready to admit was that this was a generalized behaviour and that it was generalized with 12 (alleged) victims as is reported in the charges.”

Cabral said Charest believed the sex he had with the young skiers was consensual.