Theater man Edgar Fruitier was released on appeal and is serving six months in prison for sex crimes committed in the 1970s.
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“The court orders Edgar Fruitier to surrender himself to prison authorities before 3 p.m. on September 19, 2022,” read Monday’s decision by the Quebec Court of Appeals.
Fruitier, 92, questioned his conviction in connection with an indecent attack on a teenager in his 40s.
Photo Martin Alari
Edgar Fruitier. Guilty
The music lover, who notably voiced the character of Mr. Burns in The Simpsons, had taken advantage of the victim, who worked for a summer theater in Estrie.
Touch
According to the evidence against him, Fruitier had offered to put the teenager up at his chalet, where the first attack took place. The then 44-year-old fruitier had grabbed the 15-year-old teenager’s genitals. The boy considered the music lover his “big brother” at the time.
Fruitier then committed similar acts on two other occasions, in 1976 at his home in Brossard where the young man had been hired to do housework.
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During the sentencing hearing, Trial Judge Marc Bisson insisted on the importance of reporting sex crimes against minors and the importance of a deterrent verdict, even when the crimes occurred several decades ago.
“It is not an empty word to say that the judgment handed down against the applicant is sought, the Court of Appeal added on Monday. The judge addresses all the relevant facts that emerge from the file. »
protect children
The highest court in Quebec then recalled the implications of a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that increased penalties for sex crimes against children.
“Based on this decision and based on the current understanding of child sexual abuse, the trial judge properly addressed the issue of conviction,” it said.
Fruitier hoped, at the mercy of the court, that the incarceration would be replaced with a suspended sentence due to his advanced age, medical condition and non-intrusive nature of the touch, despite the victim’s trauma.
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