Bertrand Charest, the former Alpine Canada ski coach convicted of dozens of crimes of a sexual nature, won an early release from prison on Thursday.
In a ruling handed down Thursday a judge reduced Charest’s sentence from 12 years to 10 years and three months. Counting time served during pre-trial detention, Charest’s sentence was lowered to four years and nine months.
Charest was convicted in June 2017 of 37 counts of sexually-related crimes on athletes between the ages of 12 and 18 during the 1990s. Charest had appealed the conviction and sentence.
In the judge’s ruling, Charest was cleared on nine of those counts, while the judge declared a stay of proceedings on two others, set aside the conviction on another due to the court not having jurisdiction and ordered a conditional suspension of nine other counts.
In July, three former skiiers reached an out-of-court settlement with Alpine Canada over sexual abuse committed by Charest.
