Convicted pedophile and former Maple Leaf Gardens usher Gordon Stuckless was back in a Toronto court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to 100 new charges involving 18 victims.
Maple Leaf Gardens was the home of the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs franchise from 1931 to 1999. Stuckless was an usher at the Gardens.
Crown attorney Kelly Beale says the charges include indecent assault, sexual assault and gross indecency.
Stuckless, who is originally from Newfoundland but has lived in Toronto for decades, was convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting 24 young boys while working at the Gardens, and faced 107 new charges for offences dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Eighteen new victims came forward last year with allegations and police re-arrested the 64-year-old.
According to Stuckless' attorney Ari Goldkind, Stuckless would plead not guilty to some of the charges.
“Those are counts that involve a word called ‘buggery,’ which is an older term, for what would be called anal sex with these boys – much more serious charges. Mr. Stuckless maintains while he did some horrible and terrible things and ruined many lives back then, he never did those things to young boys,” said Goldkind.
Goldkind said he is hoping for a similar sentence as the last time for Stuckless, but says he doesn’t want his client labelled as a dangerous offender.
“When you’ve been living in the community … for 13 years, and you haven’t so much as harmed another child, to bring a dangerous offender application in my view is not the appropriate way to go.”
Goldkind said that Stuckless has undergone intensive therapy and regularly receives chemical castration injections.
Good to see that he has taken responsibility for his actions, knows they were wrong, and has been working to overcome his deviant tendencies.
Crown attorney Kelly Beale says the charges include indecent assault, sexual assault and gross indecency.
Stuckless, who is originally from Newfoundland but has lived in Toronto for decades, was convicted in 1997 of sexually assaulting 24 young boys while working at the Gardens, and faced 107 new charges for offences dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Eighteen new victims came forward last year with allegations and police re-arrested the 64-year-old.
According to Stuckless' attorney Ari Goldkind, Stuckless would plead not guilty to some of the charges.
“Those are counts that involve a word called ‘buggery,’ which is an older term, for what would be called anal sex with these boys – much more serious charges. Mr. Stuckless maintains while he did some horrible and terrible things and ruined many lives back then, he never did those things to young boys,” said Goldkind.
Goldkind said he is hoping for a similar sentence as the last time for Stuckless, but says he doesn’t want his client labelled as a dangerous offender.
“When you’ve been living in the community … for 13 years, and you haven’t so much as harmed another child, to bring a dangerous offender application in my view is not the appropriate way to go.”
Goldkind said that Stuckless has undergone intensive therapy and regularly receives chemical castration injections.
Good to see that he has taken responsibility for his actions, knows they were wrong, and has been working to overcome his deviant tendencies.
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