Gymnastics coach Scott McFarlane acquitted on sexual assault-related charges

An Ontario gymnastics coach has been acquitted on all sexual assault-related charges connected to his time coaching at a gym in Mississauga, Ont.

Scott McFarlane, 33, was charged in January 2018 for alleged behaviour with a 15-year-old female gymnast who he coached at Manjak's gym.

McFarlane originally faced charges of sexual assault, child luring of a person under 16, sexual interference of a person under 16, making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16, and indecent exposure to a person under 16.

The acquittal was announced Monday morning at a courthouse in Brampton, Ont. All evidence in the trial is protected under a publication ban.

McFarlane, who remains suspended from coaching gymnastics in Canada, is an Ottawa native who has coached in the capital at Tumbler's Gymnastics Centre in the east-end suburb of Orléans.

He was fired from that job because of alleged "inappropriate communications" with a 12-year-old female gymnast he coached, the gym previously confirmed. Those allegations have never been proven.

The reasons for his departure were not shared widely until after the charges were laid in 2018.