An undeserving Montrealer who brutally raped his teenage stepdaughter at knifepoint more than 35 years ago believes he should avoid prison time as the Crown calls for exemplary punishment.
“We are talking about a unique event, it is someone prosocial who has worked all his life, who has dedicated himself to those around him,” pleaded Elisabeth Beauchamp of the defense this Friday at the Palace of Justice in Montreal.
The 74-year-old Montrealer, who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity, listened intently as his lawyer praised his orderly life. Except once, on the day before Christmas Eve in 1987. And it is that event that could now land him up to six years in prison.
Paralyzed
That evening, the unworthy stepfather had been drinking alcohol and then decided to have sex with his 17-year-old stepdaughter.
“She’s paralyzed, can we read in the verdict that found him guilty of sexual assault with a weapon?” He asks her to take off her clothes. While she was still wearing her bra, the defendant placed the tip of a knife at her breast level, below her left shoulder. He tells her to “take that off,” referring to the bra. She is complying with his request.”
The stepfather then satisfied his urges by raping the teenager in various degrading ways.
“You know what’s happening to you, but it doesn’t make sense what’s happening to you.
“You know, it’s like disconnecting there,” the victim testified.
After this rape, the victim confided in a friend and then her mother. However, she tearfully asked her daughter if “she could stay in a relationship with the defendant” while vowing that he “will not enter into a relationship again.”
“Although the complainant is taken aback by her mother’s words, she consents,” Judge David Simon said in his decision.
#Me too
The family acted for years as if nothing had happened. The victim then spoke to his friend again in 2007, but with no action for 10 years.
“Encouraged by the “MeToo” movement, the complainant denounced the acts with which the defendant was accused at the end of 2017,” it continues.
During the trial, the septuagenarian denied everything, but to no avail.
“Taking into account any imperfections in the applicant’s testimony, I conclude that her version – particularly its incriminating part – is sufficiently reliable and credible to give it credibility,” the judge noted.
And for me, Delphine Mauger of the Crown, this rapist stepfather should be sent to prison for six years to send the message that sex crimes against minors must be severely punished.
The defense, in turn, is of the opinion that the defendant should serve his sentence at home in addition to doing community service. Given the low risk of reoffending, he should also be exempt from registering as a sex offender, Me Beauchamp argued.
Once pleading is complete, Judge Simon should make his decision under advisement.
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