TORONTO — A lawyer for Gordon Stuckless says his client deserves to spend five years in prison for sexually abusing 18 boys over three decades.
Ari Goldkind says Stuckless should also receive credit for one-third of the three years he has spent on house arrest as his case went through the justice system.
He has previously said Stuckless — who has pleaded guilty to 100 charges and been convicted of two more — should not be sentenced "simply on fear."
Goldkind has argued that the man at the heart of the Maple Leaf Gardens sex abuse scandal has not reoffended since his release from prison in the early 2000s and continues to undergo chemical castration.
On Tuesday, Stuckless apologized in court for his actions and the lasting harm they have caused his victims.
He expressed shame and remorse and that while he can't undo the past, he is working hard to ensure he never sexually abuses another child.
The Crown is seeking a sentence of 12 years, arguing Stuckless preyed on children for decades and there is nothing to compel him to keep up the chemical castration.
Stuckless previously pleaded guilty in 1997 for sex assaults on 24 boys while he worked as an equipment manager at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988.
He was sentenced to two years less a day in that case, but that was later increased to six years, less a year for pre-trial custody. He was paroled in 2001 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
Court heard earlier this week that he was convicted on two other occasions of sex offences against underage boys.
