TORONTO – The man at the centre of the Maple Leaf Gardens scandal says he was sexually abused when he was a boy and those experiences affected how he treated his victims.
Gordon Stuckless was convicted in 1997 of abusing boys when he was a Maple Leaf Gardens usher.
He pleaded guilty last month to 100 new charges related to incidents that occurred decades ago.
But Stuckless pleaded not guilty to another eight charges involving three of those victims, and is on trial in Toronto on charges including buggery, assault and gross indecency.
In court today, Stuckless testified he pleaded not guilty to the buggery charges because he “didn’t do it” and that his modus operandi was “befriending and manipulating” boys.
Stuckless says his father’s friend raped him when he was 11 and he would never commit buggery because of what he went through.
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