The new head coach of the Chatham Maroons is breaking his silence on a pair of assault convictions that have followed him around for almost a decade.
According to an article that was published in the Kingston Whig-Standard, Brian Verbeek pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of assault involving his sons who were 9 and 11 years old at the time.
As a result of the convictions, Verbeek was handed a conditional discharge and 18 months of probation with an order for counselling.
In an exclusive interview and a prepared statement, Verbeek tells BlackburnNews.com the charges were just one small piece of a much larger picture.
"What people don't understand is that this case had to do with a long and protracted bitter and toxic divorce, and a series of family court battles that I ended up being entrenched in against my ex-spouse for ten of the 13 years from 1998 - April 2011," says Verbeek. "Those who have been through a bitter divorce will likely understand this to some degree, but one would be hard pressed to find a divorce battle that was being waged against them for as long or as ferociously as this one."
During that battle in family court, Verbeek claims he was forced to decide between making a deal with the Crown to get the charges dealt with quickly or face a lengthy and expensive journey through the criminal court system.
"These criminal charges weren't for the purpose of actually holding any value or 'sticking' in the criminal system," says Verbeek. "They were purposely laid to erode my resources of cash and time... Until they were dealt with, my family court matters and access to my sons was put in limbo, and could not be properly dealt with."
To this day, Verbeek maintains his innocence.
"Even though the validity and profound embellishment and complete fabrication of the charges brought against me were the most ridiculous thing I, or anybody else, had ever heard of, the problem with this was not the charges themselves but the number of them that kept on coming, and the time and cost to deal with these countless charges," says Verbeek. "Based on the number of charges, which had next to no chance of conviction according to my lawyer, it was still far quicker and easier and more cost effective from my point, to make a deal with the crown, provided no criminal record would result."
Verbeek goes on to point out that since the release of the article in 2008, he has coached hundreds of kids at all levels, from novice to pro.
"Had there been a flaw in my coaching character, it would definitely have surfaced by now over all these years," says Verbeek. "And had I been a bad character, these kids and players of all ages would not seek me out for training or for team play or support me in my coaching endeavors."
Verbeek says now that he has addressed the article directly, he is hoping to find some peace in his own life and continue to further his career in the field of coaching and training hockey athletes.
