By sexually abusing students, some as young as 10, a primary school teacher has left them utterly devastated, several have said, while the Crown is asking for up to eight years in prison.
“I lost interest in life, I gave up sports and extracurricular activities. I live with a feeling of helplessness … I think about it less now, but I haven’t forgotten anything,” one of Dominic Blanchette’s five victims testified in a letter to the court this Monday at the Montreal Palace of Justice.
A second victim says he’s still trying to understand why she was targeted, while another still lives in uncertainty and regrets the fact that he was “the perfect target” for the fallen teacher.
Blanchette, 28, lay handcuffed in the dock with her head bowed as she listened to those words, which are a direct result of her crimes against teenage girls from 2017 to 2022.
manipulator
At that time, Blanchette was teaching elementary school at the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île. However, he had used his status to abuse young students after gaining their trust through manipulation.
“You gave me attention, you were sacred to me, I adored you,” one of the victims said in a letter to the court, saying she was aware he had abused her solitude.
The pedophile teacher thus acted as a confidante, taking them to restaurants, cuddling them…anything to obtain sexual favors, whether it be online where he spoke about his fantasies, in person, or sometimes even in the middle of the classroom while watching a movie .
During a sports camp, the pedophile teacher assaulted an 11-year-old student by putting her in her bed and then attempting sexual contact.
Blanchette, who has since lost his job, was arrested after a mother who came across photos of Blanchette, nude, filed a complaint.
He later pleaded guilty to charges ranging from sexual exploitation to sexually molesting a minor under the age of 16. He also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.
enforcement requested
“I apologize for causing inappropriate contact, for speaking sexual words, I’m sorry for the inappropriate photos, I realize the atrocity of my actions,” Blanchette said Monday.
He went on to say he was aware of the “breach of trust” he had caused in Quebec’s education system.
“I have seriously violated my duty as a teacher,” he said, emphasizing the courage of the victims to have denounced him. I’ll get the help I need to never do it again. I know who I don’t want to be anymore.
For Me Annabelle Sheppard of the Crown, Blanchette would face seven or eight years in prison given the seriousness of the crimes and knowing he had five victims. Me Laurence Juillet St-Jean has indicated that, at the request of her client who wishes to undergo therapy, she will propose a prison sentence, i.e. more than two years in prison.
Can you share information about this story with us?
Write to us or call us directly at 1-800-63SCOOP.