Former Skate Canada coach guilty of 8 sexual offences against teen skaters

A former Skate Canada coach has been convicted of eight sexual offences against two teenage victims, both of whom were under his tutelage as figure skaters when the crimes occurred.

Matthew Power, 30, was found guilty of sexual assault, child luring, sexual interference and making pornography available to minors, as well as related charges, in Supreme Court in St. John's Wednesday morning.

He was acquitted of one other luring charge and another charge of making sexual material available to a minor.

Power's supporters sat silently, one of them hanging her head, as Justice Valerie Marshall handed down her verdict. She did not read from her written decision.

Power's attorney, Rosellen Sullivan, asked Marshall to keep her client out of custody until his next hearing, arguing he needed time to get his affairs in order before beginning his sentence.

Marshall declined and remanded Power into custody, citing the seriousness of his offences.

Both of Power's victims were between the ages of 13 and 16, and were figure skaters in communities in the St. John's area when he sexually abused them. One of the victims testified she wasn't yet 16 when Power penetrated her digitally, performed oral sex on her and requested lewd photos. 

Power was in his mid-20s at the time.

The second victim testified that Power sent her messages over Snapchat that contained sexual overtures and content.

Those images were presented as evidence during Power's trial, and included messages that said "well I've been told I'm really good with my tongue" and "my pullout game is strong lol."

Power, who was a head figure skating coach at the time he sexually abused the two victims, committed his crimes between 2016 and 2020 in the Conception Bay South area.

He was suspended as a coach as a result of the allegations against him in January 2021, just before the younger victim's mother contacted police to report that he had sent sexually explicit Snapchat messages to her daughter, beginning when she was 14. The victim had taken photos of some of those messages, which were used as evidence in the trial.

The second victim told police she had sexual contact with Power between the ages of 14 and 16 while he was her skating coach. He began coaching her when she was 11, and began asking for naked photos and sexual videos of her over Snapchat when she was 14.

The messaging escalated to sexual contact in several locations, including Power's car and the local arena.

Power used Snapchat to be 'cool'

Power denied all allegations when he took the stand in his defence earlier this year, telling the court he used Snapchat to communicate with skaters because that was the messaging app they all used at the time and allowed him to see when a skater opened a message, unlike Facebook, Instagram or text messaging. He also suggested he wanted to be seen as "cool" by his skaters.

Crown attorney Nicole Hurley pointed out Snapchat deletes conversations once they're opened, making them a poor tool for holding skaters accountable for their attendance.

Marshall agreed, writing in her decision that she didn't believe Power when he denied sending sexual messages, repeatedly writing that she found him disingenuous.

"His purported rationale for using Snapchat made absolutely no sense," Marshall wrote, calling his engagement with minors on the app "immature."

"This relationship far exceeded the context of a coach trying to fit in and be the 'cool coach.'"

Sullivan fought to have several charges dismissed over the course of the trial, and submitted a Jordan application near the end, hoping to have the entire case tossed due to delays. Marshall did not accept either application.

Skate Canada refused an interview request, and said in a statement it "immediately suspended" its former coach as soon as the allegations against him surfaced in January 2021. 

A police witness testified otherwise, however, saying a Skate Canada representative had called the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in February 2020 to report an inappropriate relationship between Power and a skater. Power was not suspended until 11 months later.

In his testimony, Power said he had signed a code of conduct and received professional conduct training from Skate Canada, and said the organization strongly discouraged one-on-one interactions between coaches and underage skaters, but did not outright ban them.

Power will return to court in February for sentencing submissions.

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