Sex charge stayed against former Regina school coach

A charge against a former Regina high school basketball coach has been stayed.

Grant John Edworthy was accused of sexual exploitation when a woman reported she had a relationship with him in 2012 when she was 17 and he was 24.

Edworthy had been a high school basketball coach at the time but was not a teacher at the school.

The Crown decided to stay the charge on Tuesday.

Edworthy was 28 when he was arrested in August.

He was charged with sexual exploitation of a girl who was 17 at the time of the alleged offence, according to a Regina police news release in August. Sexual exploitation refers to sexual activity between a young person and an adult in a position of trust or authority such as a teacher, babysitter, youth group worker, employer or coach. The courts have ruled consent to the activity is not a defence in such situations.

Regina police said only that Edworthy was a high school basketball coach at the time of the alleged offence, “though not a teacher in the school.” Spokesman Les Parker said in keeping with a Regina Police Service practice to not disclose an organization that’s “tangential” to a case, the school where Edworthy coached wasn’t named.

The offence was alleged to have occurred between September 2012 and March 2013 and involved incidents in various locations.

The complainant went to police on Canada Day and reported she was involved a few years earlier in a sexual relationship with a man who was older than her and “held a position of trust and authority.” Parker couldn’t say what prompted the woman to go to police.

It’s not known at where he coached or for how long.