Court hears from women how coach destroyed their lives
Judge sentences Lim to 6 1 ⁄ years in prison on 2 9 counts of sexual assault
Debilitating panic attacks. Nightmares. Suicidal thoughts. Thousands in therapy bills.
In clear, unwavering detail, two young women who were repeatedly sexually assaulted by their trusted Taekwondo coach told a court Friday exactly how their lives have been destroyed.
“You told me that if I quit Taekwondo, I would quit at everything for the rest of my life,” said one woman, who was 13 years old when Shin Wook Lim first sexually assaulted her.
“For a long time, I believed you. Sitting here five years later, I now know that that is not the case. Myself, as well as the other resilient women that stand by me, have stuck through one of the hardest battles yet; coping with the hurt and trauma that you put upon us,” she said.
“We may not have become the Olympic champions that you engraved into our minds was the only way to succeed, but what we have become is strong and empowered women who have made sure of the fact that you will never hurt a young girl again the way that you hurt all of us.”
On Friday, Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy sentenced Lim, 47, to 6 ⁄ years in prison, a 1
2 sentence jointly recommended by the Crown and defence, for nine counts of sexual assault and sexual interference with a person under the age of 16.
Earlier this month, Molloy found that Lim, a former Olympic coach, began grooming his former elite-level student Anya Ettinger after becoming her coach at a Toronto Taekwondo school when she was 13. He began to sexually assault her when she turned 15, gradually escalating over the course of two years from hugs and kisses to rape.
Ettinger, 21, chose to lift the publication ban on her identity Friday.
“You may have to spend a few years in prison, but I have to deal with your actions for the rest of my life. A prisoner for life. A life that you had absolutely no right to ruin,” she said in her statement, detailing the emotional and physical toll she continues to endure.
Ettinger’s mother, Vesna Svilanovic, also gave a victim impact statement, noting that she had also taken classes at the Black Belt World Taekwondo studio where Lim taught.
“I bowed to him,” she said in horror. “I called him ‘sir.’ The fact that she was subject to his sick abuse for 2 ⁄ years, that I 1
2 was at that same gym, that he looked me in the eyes and talked to me about her potential to become an Olympic athlete … That maybe is the trick. To be so brazen, to do it in someone’s face. This is what predators do. They need to be clever, after all, to get to their prey. So, I, too, feel victimized. I was manipulated.”
On Friday, Lim pleaded guilty to two more charges of sexual interference involving another female student.
According to the agreed statement of facts, the then 13-yearold student pulled a muscle in her groin while at the Pan Am Cadet Games in Mexico. Lim was the head coach for the Canadian team.
“He told her that rather than go see a medical doctor, it would be easier and more comfortable if she came to his room and he would massage her injury,” said Crown prosecutor Jill Witkin.
Lim massaged her groin area and then used his fingers to penetrate her.
After the tournament in Mexico, Lim encouraged the teen, who did not live in Toronto but whose family knew Lim well, to stay at his home on Friday nights so he could take her to training on Saturdays. One night, when Lim’s wife was out of town, Lim had the teen and another student sleep in bed with him. The teen pretended to be asleep. Lim put his hands under her clothing and undid her pants. On another occasion, while she pretended to sleep, he sat on her bed and kissed her.
In sentencing submissions, Lim’s lawyer Danielle Robitaille said her client lost everything when the allegations against him became public, including his job and his marriage.
Gretchen Kerr, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Kinesiology and Physical Education faculty who researches maltreatment in youth sport, said this case is a good example of how grooming works.
Coaches who abuse their students often exploit their dreams of success, leaving students vulnerable to grooming and unable to come forward without sacrificing what they have worked tirelessly for, she said.
“It’s pulling athletes into a cycle of power abuse in ways that makes it really hard for them to get out of it,” said Kerr.