A Quebec man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sexually assaulting the daughter of one of his best friends over the summer of the young woman’s 18th birthday.
• Also read: Abusive pelvic exam in patient consulting for forehead acne: This GP is still guilty of sexual misconduct
• Also read: Sexual Assault on a Minor: This Eminent Educational Researcher Faces Trial
• Also read: “High level of violence in the domestic context”: This is how a defendant almost got away because of the Teams app
The victim had just turned 18 when the summer of 2018 arrived, a summer that was supposed to be festive. For the first time the children’s play was over when she went to her parents’ chalet, she was finally able to participate in the adults’ discussions around the fire and on boat trips.
And these activities were commonplace for the family that owned a chalet in a ZEC (Controlled Exploitation Zone). Also, the neighboring chalet belonged to one of his father’s best friends. Since childhood, this man, whom she considered family, had watched her grow up and multiplied activities with the young woman.
Until summer 2018.
Until he attacked her.
broken life
First of all, there are the comments of a sexual nature, the not very subtle innuendos. Then, as the young girl drives him back to her cabin in an ATV after a drunken night out, the man, who cannot be identified to protect the victim’s identity, slips his hand under her sweater and touches her breasts.
Then, a few weeks later, in the middle of a trip on a pontoon, while his wife of 25 years is nearby, he slides his hand into the young woman’s panties, hidden by the blanket that keeps her warm.
The intrusive gestures followed one another and culminated in a physical assault in early September 2018. After a night in which the young woman slept in her attacker’s chalet and feared nothing since his wife was also in the house, she wakes up with the person in her room. He drops his pants before leaving immediately.
When she goes into the living room, the victim realizes that she is finally alone with the man. It approaches and down his leggings, then her panties.
“She’s frozen, not responding, not saying anything. She pulls her sweater over her stomach and holds it with both hands to protect herself,” Judge Steve Magnan said on Monday, describing the seven incidents during the sentencing. “She closes her legs, but the defendant opens them by force.”
At that moment, the one she trusted and considered her uncle turned her life upside down. The man, 37 years her senior, licked her parts and penetrated and fractured them for the rest of her life, Judge Magnan pointed out.
“Part of his life has been destroyed. She says she will try to survive by learning to live with this evil she carries.
“Unbearable Torment”
Convicted after a trial in which he denied assaulting the young woman, the man rather pleaded an extramarital relationship caused by flirtation and mutual seduction.
A theory that Judge Magnan flatly rejected.
“The defendant used the privileged relationship he had with her to first raise an issue of a sexual nature and then touch her without her consent. Since she then did not denounce him, he allowed himself to continue his attacks in a more intrusive manner,” the judge lamented, stressing that this caused the victim “excruciating agony” and the choice to denounce the best dad’s friend or “Be still and suffer in silence”.
As for the 30-month sentence, Judge Magnan explained that it was part of the jurisdiction of similar offenses. The defense called for an 18-month sentence, while prosecutor Me Geneviève Corriveau suggested four years.
“The range of 12 to 18 months is usually added […] Crimes committed in a single event. The court considers that the sexual assault committed by the defendant, its nature, its repetition and the exploitation of the victim’s trust places the defendant before a different category of sanctions,” the judge explained.
Not finished
Although he went the route of incarceration on Monday, the defendant’s case is not over and he has appealed Judge Magnan’s guilty verdict. His lawyer could therefore apply for his release pending the appeal decision.
Despite everything, his now 22-year-old victim is relieved to finally have taken the step she had been waiting for since the day she resigned herself to falling into the void and denouncing the attacks. A decision she has no regrets despite the delays, stress and tears that have accumulated since then.
“I often thought about letting go. But I would have regretted not doing it, giving up [durant le processus]. It proves to me that I’m stronger than I thought I was,” she confided to the Journal as she left the room at the Quebec courthouse, where she allowed herself to speak to her attacker one last time, eventually handcuffed in front of her tied up.
“I hope you realize what you did to me.”