Former NHL forward Theo Fleury says that the coach who abused him when he was a junior hockey star should have to spend the next quarter-century in prison.
Fleury spoke to CTV's Canada AM on Thursday about his reaction to a guilty plea from Graham James, the disgraced coach who repeatedly abused junior hockey players under his watch.
On Wednesday, James pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assaults on Fleury and another former junior player who cannot be identified under a court order, over a period from 1983 to 1994.
James has previously served time for abusing three other junior hockey players over the same approximate time period that Fleury and a fellow player were also victimized.
Fleury, now 43, said he spent years trying to come to grips with the abuse he suffered and his former coach should have to spend a similar amount of time in prison as punishment.
"I think a fair sentence would probably consist of about 25 years because it took me almost 30 years to feel comfortable in my own skin," Fleury said Thursday.
But James is unlikely to serve anywhere near that amount of time, to the point where he may not even have to go back behind bars.
Anne McGillivray, a University of Manitoba law professor, said that because James has not been convicted of any crimes beyond the period in which he previously abused players, it is possible that a judge could decide not to give him any further penitentiary time.
"What the judge could do is consider the time that has passed since that period in the accused's life and say, 'Well, look, we've had 20 years...where we've had no similar conduct, so we're not looking at specific deterrence and we're not looking at rehabilitation, because that's all done.'" McGillivray told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.
McGillivray said "a lighter sentence could include no jail time. It could include a conditional sentence."
Roz Prober, the head of Beyond Borders, a group that battles child exploitation, said it is "ludicrous" to suggest that James should not serve further time for abusing additional people.
"It's ludicrous...to assume that because crimes that happened to different victims happened at the same time -- and some victims took longer to heal and come forward -- that this should be seen as the same crime," Prober said.
"It's a totally different set of crimes with a different set of victims."
Fleury said he believes sex offenders should face longer sentences in Canada as they have no deterrent to stop their behaviour and they are unlikely stop abusing others.
"What psychology and psychiatry tells us that nine times out of 10 these guys will continue to reoffend over and over again," he said.
James will face sentencing in February. His lawyer has not said what he will seek in terms of sentencing for his client.
Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy first came forward with accusations against James in 1996 and he plans to attend his former coach's sentencing in February.
Like Fleury, Kennedy stayed silent for many years about the abuse he suffered.
He was glad to see James plead guilty to the sexual assaults he committed against other vulnerable players.
"It was a good day yesterday," Kennedy told CTV's Canada AM in a Thursday morning telephone interview from Calgary.
"I think none of these situations work out the way that people build them up to be in their head, but it was a good day."
With files from The Canadian Press
