Harry Charles Sadd pleaded guilty to eight charges relating to sexual abuse that took place between 1970 to 1984 in Victoria, Saanich, Esquimalt and 100 Mile House according to B.C. Provincial Court documents.
In August of 2016 Black Press Media reported that the 73-year-old had been arrested in connection with a series of sexual assaults that took place in the late 1970s and continued for several years.
The former badminton coach was arrested after the victim, now an adult, came forward and told investigators multiple accounts of sexual assault that had occurred while he was a child and teen.
“All victims of sexual assault deserve to be heard,” Special Victims Unit Sgt. Kristi Ross said in August of 2016. “Harry Sadd’s actions have left these victims to carry the burden of what he has done their entire lives, often suffering in silence. They no longer have to suffer.”
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Sadd also pleaded guilty to breaching bail conditions in 2017 when he attended an area where persons under the age of 18 were present or might be reasonably expected to be present, along with making contact with one of his victims.
According to police, one of the victims who came forward was inspired by Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy who publicly shared their own stories of sexual abuse at the hands of trusted adults.
Sadd has previous convictions for sexual assault involving young male children and teens, leading investigators to believe there were other victims in the Greater Victoria area who had yet to come forward which lead them to make a rare public appeal for possible victims.
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Sadd also worked as a teacher in Alberta and may have worked in a similar capacity in other provinces.
Almost a year later in June of 2017 Victoria Police announced Sadd faced 23 new charges in relation to a series of historical sexual assaults after multiple victims came forward following the publication of his arrest the previous year. Sadd was arrested on June 20, 2017.
According to police the 23 new charges came after 12 additional victims came forward in 2017 — who were all males between the ages of nine to 15 at the time of the offence. According to Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel at B.C. Prosecution Service says those charges are still pending but are now in the Supreme Court. He says it’s expected they will be dealt with following the sentencing on this case.
A court appearance has been scheduled for August to fix a date for sentencing.
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