After a long career as a correctional officer, a Quebec man will find out what’s behind bars after being sentenced to 8 years in prison for sexually assaulting a colleague’s daughter that spanned over a decade.
For several years, Marc Gros-Louis Monier abused the daughter of the man who had been his colleague and friend for 25 years.
From the age of 5 to her mid-teens, the young girl was attacked by the man who confided in court that he made the “click” when he saw her naked exit the shower when she was a child .
There followed 10 long years of aggression, which took place in both the defendant’s and the victim’s homes.[Agissant ainsi] he deprived the victim of any sanctuary or area where she could have felt safe,” Judge Frank D’Amours stated in an unequivocal ruling.
“A long prison sentence is appropriate. The defendant did nothing more than steal his victim’s childhood and part of his youth,” added the judge, handing down the sentence of 8 years imprisonment, a sentence that fully meets the Crown’s demands. The defense, for its part, suggested two years in prison.
Over 10 long years
Gros-Louis Monier was sentenced to 7 years in prison on charges of sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching and an additional year for producing child pornography.
The victim testified to police in September 2019 that the pedophile not only assaulted him but also photographed him naked and in sexually explicit poses.
“As if he wanted to immortalize the gestures,” lamented Judge D’Amours.
The predator sometimes gave him money after the attacks or when he was photographed to buy his silence. And on at least one occasion he went so far as to threaten her not to speak. “If you say that, who will your father believe? A child or an adult,” he asked his young victim.
The first attack happened in 1998, when the girl was in kindergarten. As he passed the accused, he removed her panties to lick her privates and placed a pillow on her face to prevent her from seeing.
Over the next 10 years, the abuse continued, ranging from cunnilingus and forced oral sex to touching breasts under her clothes and masturbating.
“I never asked to explore sexuality so young. I have never asked to be forced to do these things with someone who disgusts me. I had to grow up faster than I would have liked, my childhood was ruined,” the young woman testified during the trial.
broken trust
Judge D’Amours also referred to the bond of trust between the defendant and the young girl, calling it a serious aggravating factor. Gros-Louis Monier was a colleague of the little girl’s father in Donnacona prison for several years and a family friend.
“He used the deep friendship the victim’s father had for him to not only gain access to the victim, but to convince her that her father or anyone else would ever believe her if she spoke,” the judge said . who was in no way fooled by the statements of the accused’s relatives, who described him as a kind-hearted, generous and considerate man with an exemplary career.
“Unfortunately, that is too often the profile of the sex offender who acts with impunity for a long time,” the judge said, adding, “The greater the reputation, the harder it is to suspect.”
Gros-Louis Monier finally made his way to the cells on Friday, handcuffed in front of his victim, who shed a few tears at the time of sentencing, which eventually allowed him to turn the page of the proceedings.
“It never repairs the damage done and it never repairs the consequences that this sexual abuse has on someone, but legally it is a judgment that I think is appropriate,” said prosecutors prosecutor Me Andréanne Sirois.
Gros-Louis Monier was also suspended by Wendake
Marc Gros-Louis Monier, who hails from Huron-Wendat, had been banned from his parish by the Wendake band council at the time of his guilty plea in 2021.
The council had adopted its statute “on the prohibition of persons in Wendake” on October 25, 2021, and its first implementation came two days later, on the 27th, to exclude Gros-Louis Monier.
The latter had asked for the ban to be lifted in the weeks that followed, but his request was denied because the decree aims to favor “the residence of the victim rather than the presence of the aggressor in the community”.
Mixed weight in the set
Gros-Louis Monier’s lawyer had argued that this should be taken into account when imposing her client’s sentence, the latter wishing that the banishment would result in his sentence being reduced.
While the case law recognizes this in certain cases, Judge Frank D’Amours pointed out that the ban in Gros-Louis Monier’s case carries mixed weight.
According to the magistrate, his exclusion results not only from the conditions imposed by the judiciary in the context of a conviction, but above all from an external and independent decision by the community.
“The judge distinguished between a banishment, which would be an integral part of the sentence, and one arising out of the consequences of the defendant’s decision to commit his crimes, which was the case in our case,” explained the Crown prosecutor , Me Andréanne Sirois.
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