Montreal mother says 'everybody knew' basketball coach was abusive, school turned blind eye

The parent of two girls who played basketball at St-Laurent High school is speaking out, saying the team's head coach had a history of questionable behaviour -- and the school only addressed it after his arrest.

Grace Ngoyi signed up her teenage daughters for the school's basketball team four years ago because its program had a great reputation, she told CTV News.

But after seeing head coach Daniel Lacasse's methods, she says, she soon began to question how the team was run. 

"Screaming, denigrating, dragging the girls through the mud," she described his approach -- and "everybody knew," she said.

She complained to the school, she said, but Lacasse's behaviour was tolerated because he brought prestige. 

At least, that was the case until he was arrested on sex assault charges last week along with two other coaches at the same school.

Those allegations have yet to be proven in court.

Nobody knew about the sexual allegations, says Ngoyi, but everyone knew how abusive he could be.

One former student who spoke to CTV News said that in her circle, rumours of sexual abuse were rampant, even if the alleged victims denied it. 

Activists working to prevent school-based sexual abuse say that schools have a long way to go to recognize and denounce this kind of behaviour.

"We want to make sure the teachers, the adults, [who spend time] around students are legally obligated to act when they see those events," said Melanie Lemay, an advocate in the area. 

"Even though right now that's supposed to be the case, in the laws we currently have there are no conseqences if they don't apply," she said.

Both the school service centre that oversees the school, Marguerite Bourgeoys, and the Quebec government are now investigating why the alleged abuse was unnoticed for so long.

On Wednesday, the prosecution and defence made their final cases to get one of the three accused, Robert Luu, released on bail.

The Crown argued that courts now seek much tougher sentences in this kind of case than in the past. 

The Supreme Court has reminded the public of the importance of "denouncing crimes against children," said Crown prosecutor Bruno Menard.

The decision on Luu's bail will come down this Friday. As for Daniel Lacasse, he will make his own bid for bail on Thursday.

The third man accused, 43-year-old Charles-Xavier Boislard, was released on bail after the Crown agreed, only in his case. Prosecutors didn't explain why they treated his case differently.