Former elite-level diving coach Trevor Palmatier has avoided jail time and will serve a conditional sentence followed by a period of stringent probation for sex crimes committed against a minor, one of his athletes.
Palmatier, 46, showed no emotion as B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Power delivered the sentence Thursday. Palmatier was found guilty last October of sexually touching a young person while in a position of trust, inciting a young person to touch the body of a sex-trade worker while in a position of trust, and paying a minor for sexual services.
Power said Palmatier has not admitted his guilt, although he has indicated a willingness to take part in therapy sessions available in the community.
Palmatier will serve a conditional sentence — sometimes referred to as house arrest — of two years less a day, followed by three years of probation. The probation bars him from being in the company of anyone under 18 without the presence of a parent or guardian and restricts him to his residence between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Defence lawyer Emmet Duncan had called for a conditional sentence, while prosecutor Laura Ford asked for a two-year jail term.
The victim said outside court that he was happy with the outcome of the case.
“Really, I’m mostly pleased with the criminal record being on him now, so hopefully it won’t happen again,” he said.
The victim cannot be named because he was in his mid-teens when the crimes were committed between 2003 and 2006. Now 27, he said in a victim-impact statement that it has taken him 10 years to get his life into focus.
He said Palmatier robbed him of his ability to trust and turned him away from the sport he loved.
“I will never know how far I could have gone competitively,” he wrote.
Power called the statement “succinct and compelling.” She noted that the victim, who began diving for Palmatier at age 12, showed promise in the sport and earned a junior national championship.
Palmatier was an important adult figure in the victim’s life, Power said, and engaged in a process of grooming him for sexual activity that was “almost textbook.” During the trial, Ford said the grooming included frank sexual talk, pornography and alcohol.
Power said Palmatier, who began coaching at 22, enjoyed national and international status that has now gone.
“His reputation in the global diving community is ruined,” she said.
Palmatier coached Olympians and was with the Boardworks diving club at Saanich Commonwealth Place for almost 10 years until 2007. After that, he moved to Edmonton and established a club called Big Dog Diving.
He was suspended by Diving Plongeon Canada, diving’s national governing body, when the allegations against him arose in 2013 and was expelled after he was found guilty.
