WARNING: This text incorporates graphic particulars, and will have an effect on those that have skilled sexual violence or know somebody impacted by it.
A former Edmonton monitor coach has been discovered responsible of historic sexual offences towards three teenage boys he mentored and skilled within the Seventies.
In a call Tuesday, a decide discovered that Thomas Kenneth Porter, generally known as Ken Porter, sexually touched the teenagers for his personal gratification beneath the guise of athletic massages.
Courtroom of King’s Bench Justice Nicholas Devlin additionally discovered that Porter, now 76, sexually touched two of the youngsters in separate incidents at his condominium.
A type of concerned a time the place he invited boys over for dinner, then confirmed them pornography in what the decide decided was an effort to groom them. Porter then supplied them “rubdowns” — his time period for the track-side massages he gave younger athletes.
The previous coach watched the choice remotely from his lawyer’s workplace in Ottawa. He stays on bail pending his sentence, which can be set at a later date.
The complainants, who had been 15 to 17 years outdated once they skilled with Porter, testified that his massages progressed from rubbing their legs to shifting up their our bodies and touching their buttocks, genitals and anus.
Porter’s conduct “constituted an exploitation or perversion of contact by a trusted adult,” Devlin mentioned.
“It caused discomfort, confusion and even revulsion among the victims.”
Devlin concluded that Porter is responsible of two counts of indecent assault and three counts of gross indecency — costs beneath the Legal Code on the time of the allegations, from 1976 to 1980. Devlin discovered Porter not responsible on the 5 different costs he confronted, together with every of the costs laid in relation to one of many complainants.
Porter initially confronted greater than a dozen costs associated to 5 males who had been his former trainees. The counts associated to one in all them had been later withdrawn.
Every of the boys’s identities is protected by a publication ban, apart from Chris Dallin, who requested the court docket to raise the ban on his identify. He was the primary to report his experiences with Porter to police in 2007.
Nearly 20 years later — and near 50 years after he first began coaching with Porter as a 14-year-old boy — Dallin mentioned Tuesday that he wished to verify Porter might by no means be in a scenario the place he was near boys or younger males once more.
He mentioned it’s additionally vital to him to inform his personal story.
“I no longer have any shame about this,” he mentioned.
“I want people to understand that it’s OK to kind of go through this.”
Inappropriate contact throughout massages
One of many males who testified described a cocktail party he attended with another teenage athletes, whereas Porter was the one grownup. The coach served pecan pie and handed round pornographic magazines he mentioned he received in Europe.
In Devlin’s resolution, he mentioned Porter acknowledged these occasions, however the former coach mentioned he now views it as flawed to point out the teenagers the pornography.
Devlin discovered Porter responsible of gross indecency and indecent assault for a therapeutic massage that the complainant described taking place after dinner, the place Porter had him change right into a yellow thong, then massaged his legs and buttocks and touched his anus.
Devlin additionally decided that Porter sexually touched one other teenager who testified that at the beginning, he felt excited by Porter’s bodily consideration, as an adolescent within the strategy of discovering his sexuality.
However the man advised the court docket that after one therapeutic massage the place Porter touched his genitals, he felt repulsed, and had a bodily response. Later in life, he struggled with drug and alcohol dependency.
The felony case got here after experiences of sexual misconduct prompted Athletics Canada to fee former Ontario ombudsman André Marin in 2019 for an impartial investigation.
When Marin’s report was completed, Porter was fired as chair of the Ottawa Lions monitor and subject membership and issued a lifetime ban by Athletics Canada.
Devlin’s resolution says that investigation triggered in depth communication between the complainants within the felony case, who knew one another from their time as younger athletes.
“Astonishingly, Mr. Marin encouraged them to reach out to each other,” Devlin mentioned.
That, along with different publicity to one another’s tales, led to questions throughout the trial about how they could have influenced one another’s recollections.
Devlin mentioned that was a difficulty that led to the not responsible resolution on all three costs associated to a 3rd complainant. Whereas he credited that man for being open and sincere in his testimony, Devlin mentioned he couldn’t be certain the recollections got here from sources “other than true recall,” including as much as cheap doubt.
Coach was ‘infatuated’ with teenage boy, decide finds
The decide additionally acquitted Porter of two costs from an incident the place Dallin alleged the coach sexually assaulted him in a Saskatoon resort room.
Dallin testified he was 15 on the time, and amongst a gaggle of athletes travelling with Porter for a monitor meet. He mentioned he was purported to room with one other teen, however Porter advised him that he’d be staying with him as an alternative.
Through the evening, Dallin described having a nightmare that Porter was performing oral intercourse on him, then woke as much as discover it was truly taking place.
However inconsistencies in a few of the proof offered throughout the trial and Dallin’s recollection ended with the decide saying he wasn’t sure sufficient for a conviction.
“Given I am sure Mr. Porter sexually touched [Dallin] for his gratification … I find it likely he did make an unwanted sexual advance. It probably happened much the way [Dallin] described,” Devlin mentioned.
“I do not disbelieve [Dallin]. But I cannot be sure it happened when, where and how it was described.”
However when it got here to Porter’s rationalization of reported sexual contact with Dallin throughout massages, the decide mentioned the previous coach’s “shifting, self-serving, almost desperate evidence … leaves Mr. Porter bereft of credibility.”
Devlin discovered that the coach was “infatuated” with the teenage Dallin.
“His massages sometimes caused erections and it happened frequently enough he had thought about how to deal with it,” Devlin mentioned.
“His evidence demonstrates Mr. Porter was not concerned at all with sexually arousing the teenage boys he was laying hands on.”
Dallin mentioned he was disillusioned Porter was discovered not responsible within the resort incident. However he’s happy how everybody concerned within the case took it severely.
“I’ve been through counselling and I’ve kind of come out the other end, and I’m feeling pretty good about my life right now,” he mentioned in an interview.
“But boy, there was sure a lot of time as a young man that I was very, very mixed up and had a lot of problems associated with what happened to me as a result of that trauma.”
Dallin mentioned he needs others to understand it’s OK to speak about experiences like his, regardless that they may really feel embarrassed or unsure.
“Kids, young people need a few people out there who show the way, say, ‘This guy’s OK, and he went through something traumatic as well, and he seems perfectly willing to talk about it, even though it’s difficult.”
If you happen to’re in rapid hazard or concern on your security or that of others round you, please name 911. For assist in your space, you may search for disaster strains and native companies through the Ending Sexual Violence Affiliation of Canada database.
