A man caught up in his past thanks to advances in genetics recently pleaded guilty to a violent sexual assault committed more than 25 years ago in Saint-Hubert on a chance encountered teenager.
Louis Jr. Poirier, a repeat sex offender, was arrested by the Longueuil Agglomeration Police Department in December 2020. The 57-year-old had just realized that the judiciary can have a long arm: he had been accused of sexual assault a quarter of a century earlier.
On August 17, 1995, a teenager unfortunately crossed his path. The 15-year-old girl was riding her bike in the Parc de la Cité (the Mega Project Park at the time) when she saw a person passing in the opposite direction.
“He looks at her, her look scares him,” Me Julie Vincent summarized during Louis Jr. Poirier’s recent guilty plea.
The teenager picks up the pace. But the man, also on a bicycle, joins her and tries to push her to the ground. She manages to slide ahead, pedals at full speed and yells, “Mom! “.
As she flees, she hears Poirier approaching. He managed to grab her by the neck and knock her down. Then he drags her into the forest. He rips off her bra, undresses her. For minutes he attacks her by touching her and forcing a penetration.
“During this attack, she is convinced that she will be killed,” Me Vincent said.
Finally, she hears him put his pants back on and get back on his bike. Later, a passerby finds the teenager crying on the street, his underwear and shoes in his hands.
The girl encounters the police, quickly passing a forensics kit. Despite two biological surveys conducted in 1995 and then in 2002, no genetic profile was identified.
But now, almost two decades later, the case is enjoying a resurgence. Investigators from another police unit analyzed a similar case from 2018. Ultimately, the two rapes were unrelated, the Longueuil police said when Poirier was arrested.
The reopening of the 1995 file nonetheless made possible new analyzes of the evidence collected at the time. A forensic biologist was able to carry out the genetic analysis of foreign bodies from the forensic case carried out on the victim in August 1995.
These had not previously been assessable, emphasized the crown prosecutor in the courtroom. Therefore, it is thanks to the advancement of science that Louis Jr. Poirier’s DNA has been identified.
The parties do not agree on the sentence to be pronounced, which should be four to eight years in prison. Poirier re-offended after the 1995 rape (see below). But he has since moved on, insisted his attorney Me Julie Couture.
“He did the necessary therapies, he made a full recovery in my opinion,” she said, adding that the man was a drug addict at the time.
For his part, Me Vincent intends to insist on the serious consequences suffered by the victim.
SOME IMPORTANT DATA
- 1986
Louis Jr. Poirier was found guilty of manslaughter in Montreal. - Aug. 17, 1995
He stalks a 15-year-old girl before raping her in a park in Saint-Hubert. - late 1995
The victim’s forensic kit is examined biologically, but no genetic profile is identified. - March 2000
He is accused of sexual assault with a gun and kidnapping. - April 2000
He is charged again with sexual assault. - October 2001
He is sentenced to a total of 8 years in prison for the two sexual assaults in 2000. His name is on the sex offender registry for a period of 20 years. - 2002
A biological assessment is again performed on the victim’s forensic kit, but no genetic profile is then identified. - 2020
Arrest of Louis Jr. Poirier for sexual assault and kidnapping of a teenager in 1995. - February 2022
He pleaded guilty outside the Longueuil courthouse. His verdict will be known later.
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