Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2017 3:52:54 GMT -6
A hockey pro dies, and the coach he said raped him is free
"He was 38, once the epitome of a clean-living collegiate and professional hockey captain, an adoring father respected by countless people whose lives he had touched.
But only a few knew of his personal torment. According to his family and Suffolk County prosecutors, Gove never escaped the anguished memories of his treatment by an influential Boston hockey coach who recognized his talent and took him under his wing, then allegedly raped him repeatedly over several years, beginning when he was 13.
Gove died two months before he was scheduled to testify in Suffolk Superior Court against the coach, Robert G. Richardson, who faced three counts of child rape.
Now there will be no trial. Prosecutors have lost their victim and chief witness against Richardson, who 12 years ago was acquitted of raping another youth hockey prospect.
The latest charges have been dropped. But the people who loved Gove, a candidate for the 2001 Hobey Baker Award honoring the nation’s best college player, want it remembered how he came to die alone, a broke and broken man.
“Everything Dave did, everything he thought of, revolved around what happened to him’’ in the alleged rapes. It ended up crushing him, said Katie Gannon, Gove’s former longtime girlfriend and Cullen’s mother.
“Dave was the nicest person you can imagine, but he had a dark demon inside him because of all he went through,’’ said Chris Ferreira, Gove’s best friend since childhood. “He told me it got to the point where he couldn’t take the thoughts anymore.’’
more: www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2017/09/02/hockey-pro-dies-and-coach-said-raped-him-free/fRGNZ0cZaUOcj5WtVI9GeO/story.html#comments
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This turned my stomach. There is a special place in hell for that ex-coach.
"He was 38, once the epitome of a clean-living collegiate and professional hockey captain, an adoring father respected by countless people whose lives he had touched.
But only a few knew of his personal torment. According to his family and Suffolk County prosecutors, Gove never escaped the anguished memories of his treatment by an influential Boston hockey coach who recognized his talent and took him under his wing, then allegedly raped him repeatedly over several years, beginning when he was 13.
Gove died two months before he was scheduled to testify in Suffolk Superior Court against the coach, Robert G. Richardson, who faced three counts of child rape.
Now there will be no trial. Prosecutors have lost their victim and chief witness against Richardson, who 12 years ago was acquitted of raping another youth hockey prospect.
The latest charges have been dropped. But the people who loved Gove, a candidate for the 2001 Hobey Baker Award honoring the nation’s best college player, want it remembered how he came to die alone, a broke and broken man.
“Everything Dave did, everything he thought of, revolved around what happened to him’’ in the alleged rapes. It ended up crushing him, said Katie Gannon, Gove’s former longtime girlfriend and Cullen’s mother.
“Dave was the nicest person you can imagine, but he had a dark demon inside him because of all he went through,’’ said Chris Ferreira, Gove’s best friend since childhood. “He told me it got to the point where he couldn’t take the thoughts anymore.’’
more: www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2017/09/02/hockey-pro-dies-and-coach-said-raped-him-free/fRGNZ0cZaUOcj5WtVI9GeO/story.html#comments
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This turned my stomach. There is a special place in hell for that ex-coach.
