An internationally renowned digital education researcher has been found guilty at the end of his sexual harassment trial for using his alone time with an 11-year-old boy to abuse him.
“I don’t believe in denial [de l’accusé] to the events. I am not keeping them and they leave me with no reasonable doubt,” Judge Ann-Mary Beauchemin said at the sentencing of Thierry Karsenti this afternoon at the Longueuil courthouse.
The internationally renowned researcher for digital education was thus found guilty of sexual contact with a boy who was eleven at the time.
The now-suspended ex-professor of education at the University of Montreal made headlines in 2013 for leading the school’s first Quebec study on the iPad.
He also held the Canadian Research Chair in Information and Communication Technologies in Education.
Uncomfortable
During a trip, Karsenti came to bed with the little boy in the morning. The identity of the person who is now of legal age is protected by the court.
“He flattered my chest. He asked me to lie on my stomach, he flattered my back and buttocks. […] I was uncomfortable,” he told investigators.
Subsequently, the same game repeated a dozen times when Karsenti, whom he trusted, entered his room to fondle and touch him.
The fallen teacher then made “friendly gestures” towards the alleged victim.
Once he forced open the bathroom door while the boy was taking a shower.
“He pulled down the curtain. He asked me questions about my day. I turned [pour me cacher]”I wasn’t too happy with that,” the victim also said during the trial.
Karsenti is known for having advised former education minister Sébastien Proulx on the elaboration of the digital action plan in education and higher education in 2018.
More details to come…
Can you share information about this story with us?
Write to us or call us directly at 1-800-63SCOOP.