Theo Fleury calls Canada the 'Disneyland of pedophiles' after abuser paroled
Former NHL star Theo Fleury had a lot to say when the former junior hockey coach convicted of sexually assaulting him as a child was granted full parole on Thursday.
Graham James was serving a seven-year prison sentence after he was found guilty in 2012 of sexually abusing six players — including Fleury, his cousin Todd Holt and another former NHLer, Sheldon Kennedy — hundreds of times while they were under his watch during the late '80s and early '90s as the Swift Current Broncos head coach in the Western Hockey League.
The former coach, 64, was granted partial parole in January, which allowed him to live at a halfway house, before being granted full parole on Thursday. Following the decision, Fleury, who tallied over 1,000 points in his NHL career and won a Stanley Cup with the Flames, reiterated that "Canada is the Disneyland for pedophiles" in a statement released on his website.
Despite objections by several former victims, the parole board justified their decision by saying that James has shown progress over the past months and was evaluated as a low risk to re-offend.
James himself expressed regret for his actions during the hearing, calling them "horrific," and that his victims "bore the brunt of his inability to have a healthy sexual life" as a gay man during a time when he claimed it was unacceptable, the Toronto Star reported.
“I feel ashamed, I feel that I failed the people for whom I had the greatest responsibility and to whom I was closest,” James said.
“It was a great failure in my life that I let them down.”
