Former NHL player Theoren Fleury said Thursday he was not surprised at the news that his former coach, pardoned sex offender Graham James, is living in Mexico.
"Obviously over the last 10 months, you know, his face has been prominently displayed in every major newspaper in Canada," Fleury said.
"So if I was him, I would probably want to get out of the country as well. So it didn’t really surprise me that he is down there," Fleury said on CBC News Network.
James served 3½ years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting Sheldon Kennedy, a former NHLer who played for James in junior hockey, and another unidentified player. James was paroled in 2001.
In an autobiography released in 2009, Fleury alleged that he too had been a victim of sexual assault by James. In January of this year, Fleury filed a criminal complaint with Winnipeg police, who opened an investigation.
In April, it became public knowledge that James received a 2007 pardon. But at that point, his whereabouts were unknown.
However, CBC News and the Globe and Mail jointly tracked down James to an apartment building in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Fleury said he watched a Wednesday report by CBC's Bob McKeown, who approached James in Mexico with questions about Fleury's allegations and the pardon. James declined to sit for an interview.
"He is a shell of his former self, that is for sure," Fleury said after seeing James on television. "I remember him being a guy that was very confident and very arrogant, and he was none of that."
Fleury also described seeing his former coach on TV as part of his healing process.
"I knew at some point that I would either have to see him, you know, on television or maybe face-to-face," he said.
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