A pastor who tortured his eight children in the name of God for 25 years faces several more months behind bars. Sentenced to five years in prison in May 2021, Mario Monette continues to justify his crimes with biblical passages.
Posted at 1:56 p.m
“You trivialize, trivialize and justify the alleged actions against it [X]. Your thoughts and beliefs remain rigid and you show no empathy for the victims,” the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) concluded Tuesday, refusing to grant parole or full parole to 67-year-old Man Day.
Mario Monette and his wife Carole Van Houtte Monette (sentenced to four years in prison) subjected their children to real ordeal for two decades. In the 1980s, Mario Monette pastored the South Metropolitan Biblical Baptist Church on Montreal’s South Shore. In his sermons, he encouraged his followers to correct their children with a “rod.”
A climate of terror reigned in the pastor. Mario Monette hit his children with paint sticks, wooden spoons, dummy bars or belts. For the slightest violation of the strict rules, children received five to ten slaps on the buttocks, depending on their age. Sometimes the stick broke from the force of the blows. A 13-year-old daughter of the couple received 150 sticks for secretly seeing a boy.
The couple’s eldest son, the most commonly beaten child, was even locked in the home’s garage for months. Other children were placed on a bread and water diet in their rooms. Despite this, some children who are now adults continue to defend their father.
According to a psychological report, Mario Monette suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder. According to his Case Management Worker (CMT), his risk of recidivism is rated as low, but rather “moderate”. The latter says “caution” is in order, as former supporters of the perpetrator have reported instances of manipulation, abusive control and threats of condemnation.
The 18 months behind bars do not seem to have changed the fallen pastor. Questioned by his EGC, Mario Monette took refuge behind passages from the Bible to explain his actions. During a meeting with another worker who found “no progress” from the perpetrator, Mario Monette claimed that his right to believe was not being respected.
“You later admitted in court that you misapplied Bible teachings and that you were excessive,” the PBC noted.
Still, the commissioners find it “worrying” that Mario Monette has not started any work on himself while in detention. “You are trying to protect your image rather than working to understand why you have been so violent for so long,” the PBC concluded.
Note that Carole Van Houtte Monette is already on parole.