Former Lethbridge gymnastics coach acquitted of five counts of sex abuse charges

Jamie Ellacott of Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy appears in an interview with CTV News Lethbridge in 2020. He was charged in July 2022 following an investigation into accusations he sexually assaulted a seven-year-old gymnast. (file)

A former Lethbridge gymnastics coach facing five counts of sexual interference charges was acquitted of all charges this week after a judge found the complainants’ testimony unreliable.

Thirty-seven-year-old Jamie Ellacott was charged in 2022 with charges against five girls between the ages of seven and 14 when he was a coach at the now defunct Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy.

He was cleared of all charges by Justice Johanna Kubik on Tuesday after a trial in Lethbridge.

Defence lawyer Kirsten Lancee said Ellacott’s acquittal came after the judge found “each of the complainants suffered from issues relating to their respective reliability at trial.”

Those reliability problems included issues with information disclosed to two of the complainants’ parents and information disclosed in trial, Lancee said.

Two other complainants had discussed their evidence before and after interviews with police and “appeared to change details of their versions of events as a result of these conversations,” Lancee said.

She added Kubik also found that Ellacott had spotted a gymnast and ruled out evidence of touching for sexual purposes.

“Mr. Ellacott has adamantly defended his case, testified that he has done absolutely no wrongdoing, and has been found innocent by the court,” Lancee wrote in an email to CTV News.

“It has been a hard, nearly four-year battle. He is looking forward to some normalcy following this horrific experience.”