3 women complained about coach's inappropriate behaviour in April. Now he's charged with sexual assault

Five months after three young female athletes filed complaints about the inappropriate behaviour of their weightlifting coach, the same man has been charged with the sexual assault of a different young person.

Isaac Smith, 33, was charged with sexual assault on Sept. 28. Those allegations have not been proven in court and CBC News was unable to reach Smith for comment. 

The sexual assault is alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1 and June 24. 

CBC News spoke with two of the three women who filed complaints on April 21 to Weightlifting Nova Scotia, the group that facilitates access to the sport and organizes events in the province. The women allege their complaints were not taken seriously and say Smith should not have been allowed to continue coaching while the investigation was underway. They say they came forward to protect other women from further harm. 

"What if he was suspended right in April, right when our complaint got filed?" said Haley Warnica, one of the three original complainants. "Would that have changed anything?"

In a statement, Weightlifting Nova Scotia said it hired an independent investigator the day after it received the complaint but said the investigation was "significantly delayed" due to circumstances beyond its control, without providing further detail. 

The investigator found at least 30 violations of Weightlifting Nova Scotia's code of ethics, ranging from not fostering self-esteem among athletes, making unwelcome sexualized comments and shaming athletes.

Both Warnica, who trained with Smith for three years starting in spring 2017, and complainant Jane Nicholson, who trained with him for seven years starting in summer 2015, are now 26. 

In the report, and in interviews with CBC News, they said Smith questioned them daily about their weight, monitored their social media posts, tried to control their diets, gave them the "silent treatment" when they didn't listen, touched them inappropriately by putting his hand on their legs or rubbing their backs and made unwelcome comments.

"He said in front of multiple people, 'You know, you're skinny, but at least you didn't lose your ass,'" Warnica said.

"Say if we were being 'crazy' or something, he would say, 'Oh, cool your tits.' And that's obviously very disgusting in my opinion," said Nicholson.

The investigator's report states that the allegation was that Smith touched female athletes differently than he touched male athletes, but the investigator found there was no evidence provided that Smith touched any female athletes in a sexual manner, nor in a manner that was inappropriate.

Weightlifting Nova Scotia suspended Smith from all competitions, events, programs or initiatives for eight months. The suspension was retroactive to April 21, when the initial complaint was made, but because the sanction was not released until Aug.10, Smith was able to continue attending events after April 21. He also continued coaching because his private business is outside the purview of Weightlifting Nova Scotia. 

However, the organization said it received an additional complaint against Smith on June 28, and it sent an email to its membership the following day to inform athletes it had "provisionally suspended Isaac Smith" under Section 32 of its code of conduct, which states that an "alleged incident is of such seriousness as to warrant immediate suspension of an individual pending a final decision."