Former Vancouver Whitecaps coach Bob Birarda gets two years in jail for sex offences

Former Vancouver Whitecaps coach Bob Birarda was sentenced Wednesday for sexual offences that took place over two decades.

Birarda, 55, received two years less a day in jail with 16 months in custody and eight months to be served in the community.

He will also have house arrest and probation conditions to be handed down later in the day.

Birarda pleaded guilty in February to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual touching involving four female players who were under 18 years old.

Crown prosecutor Linda Ostry told the court during his sentencing hearing in June that Birarda coached two of the players at the time of the offences, while in the other two cases he was in a position of authority as a mentor and prominent figure in the soccer world.

The Crown argued for a jail sentence of two years less a day plus three years’ probation, while defence lawyer Bill Smart argued that he should serve eight months.

Birarda apologized to the victims, their families and the soccer world during a sentencing hearing in September.

“I cannot find the words to adequately express the depth of my regret, sorrow, shame and self-loathing I have felt,” he told the court at the time.

The offences took place between 1988 and 2008, and range from him having sex with a teen player while he was her coach in his early 20s, to pursuing a 17-year-old when he was 40.

– With files from Canadian Press