THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG — Graham James’s accusers reacted with both relief and worry Wednesday after the convicted sex offender surrendered to police at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and was whisked to Winnipeg.
James, 58, is wanted on nine new sex-related charges involving three individuals over a 15-year span.
“Like I said when the warrant was issued, this thing is coming to an end and I can get on with my life and do the things I want to do, which is help other people who have been through what I went through,” former NHL star Theo Fleury, one of his accusers, told Sportsnet’s Mike Brophy Wednesday.
Asked by Sportsnet if James flew to Canada to surrender to a warrant for his arrest, Fleury said, “He must have. Why else would he come back to Canada?”
Fleury, 42, has been participating in Battle of the Blades. He told Sportsnet was thrilled when he got the news James had been arrested.
“Obviously it didn’t take too long to get him,” Fleury told Sportsnet. “When the police issued the warrant I knew it was coming to an end. That said, we’ve still got a long way to go until this thing is over. This is just part of the process.
Police in the Manitoba capital issued a short news release saying the former junior hockey coach was arrested "through mutual agreement" and remains in custody.
No additional details will be released, they said.
"I think there’s one less predator on the street and he can’t hurt any more kids," Fleury told Canadian Press.
But another of the complainants, who remains anonymous under a court-ordered publication ban, told The Canadian Press that the former hockey coach’s return opens a painful new chapter.
"Now that he’s behind bars, that’s good for society as a whole and all of those he no longer has access to," said the complainant.
"But it’s not necessarily so good for the three of us who came forward and who are now clearly in his sights. Who knows what his next move will be?"
The warrant, issued earlier this month, listed allegations from that date back to 1979 and end in 1994. They include Fleury, who has published a tell-all autobiography alleging that James abused him starting when he was 14 years old.
"The thing I worry about is that he actually did come back (voluntarily)" said the unnamed complainant, a former teenage hockey prospect.
"It isn’t as if he is some fine, upstanding, rehabilitated, law-abiding citizen, no matter how hard he will try to make himself appear that way."
Fleury, however, expressed no reservations and said he was pleased to hear that James is once again behind bars.
"I understand that it does take a while to put an investigation together, put charges together and whatnot, so I’m pleased at this point with the result of what happened today," he said from Toronto. "We’ll just keep moving forward and trust in the legal system that we’ll get justice."
Fleury added he is prepared to testify if the case goes to trial.
"I’ll do whatever it takes from here on in … to make this come to an ending."
James, who coached the Moose Jaw Warriors, Swift Current Broncos and Calgary Hitmen, pleaded guilty in 1997 to hundreds of assaults on two teenage players, including former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy, and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
He was quietly pardoned three years ago, news which caused an uproar when it was revealed by The Canadian Press earlier this year.
The federal government has since won all-party agreement to toughen up Canada’s pardon system. The Prime Minister’s Office had no comment about Wednesday’s arrest.
James’s last known address was in Guadalajara, Mexico, and his lawyer said last week that his client was committed to addressing the new charges.
"Mr. James, as indicated before, has been and continues to be wanting to be co-operative with authorities — and will be," Evan Roitenberg said at the time.
–With files from Bruce Cheadle in Ottawa
