A former youth badminton coach charged with sexual assaults from 1970 to 1987 has pleaded guilty to eight counts.
Harry Charles Sadd was charged in August 2016 with sexually assaulting a teenage boy during the 1970s. Then in June 2017, he was arrested on 23 new charges that involved 12 complainants aged nine to 15.
When Sadd was arrested in 2016, Victoria police said a man had come forward alleging that he had been assaulted starting when he was about nine and continuing into his late teens.
The man, in his 50s at the time, contacted police “after years of struggling with what happened to him,” Victoria police Sgt. Kristi Ross said at the time. “It’s been a very difficult path for him.”
Police asked for other victims to contact them, and within days received calls from more than two dozen people.
Sadd was a teacher in Alberta and then was a youth badminton coach in Greater Victoria in the 1970s and 1980s, police said. “Our investigation indicates that there are likely victims in multiple provinces.”
The victim who initially contacted police said Sadd had been his badminton coach.
The newer charges included eight counts of sexual assault, six counts of indecent assault upon a male person, three counts of gross indecency, four counts of buggery or bestiality, and two counts of assault with intent to commit buggery.
He was also charged with failure to comply with bail conditions between Dec. 21, 2016 and June 10, 2017, by being at a public park, schoolyard, daycare centre or other places where people under 18 could be present.
As well, he was charged with breaching a no-contact order pertaining to a complainant on June 3, 2017.
Sadd was released on bail in May 2018.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 19.
