WINNIPEG — A high-ranking martial arts instructor convicted of multiple sexual abuse charges will spend ten years behind bars.
King Yeung, 58, sexually abused three of his students over a ten year period.
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“I find it mystifying how and why this occurred,” Judge Dale Harvey said.
Harvey called the behaviour “egregious and repugnant” and said everything Yeung did was the “antithesis of the philosophy of Taekwondo.”
“He’s absolutely remorseful,” Yeung’s defence lawyer Matt Gould said. “Mr. Yeung will be in prison for an extraordinarily long time. There are a lot of people in prison right now for killing somebody who are serving sentences less than that.”
Yeung has been called the “Wayne Gretzky of taekwondo” and was considered a leader in the sport in Winnipeg.
The judge said it was through that role that he abused his power and it showed the “secret and insidious nature of the offender.”
As part of his sentence, Yeung will now have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, give authorities a DNA sample and is banned from ever attending public parks and pools where children under the age of 16 may be.
It’s a case that has been compared to that of convicted sex offender and former hockey coach Graham James.
Yeung was arrested last year after a victim approached police saying she was sexually abused by him.
In December he pleaded guilty to charges of sexual exploitation and sexual interference involving three victims.
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The three women cannot be named due to a publication ban.