An 86-year-old woman who was raped by a total stranger had a nightmare in April 2021. A repeat offender suddenly entered a retirement home before attacking one of the residents, who defended himself by hitting his attacker with a vacuum cleaner. Charlie Fleming has pleaded guilty and faces up to five years in prison.
Posted yesterday at 5:00am
Mayssa Ferah La Press
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty last July. The prosecutor on the file, Me Charles Doucet, and defense attorney, Marie-Hélène Giroux, proposed a five-year sentence to Judge Pierre Labelle.
Charlie Fleming roams a low-cost residential home (HLM) for the elderly in downtown Montreal in April 2021. It is easily introduced into a building falling under the municipal housing authority (OMH). The building is reserved for low-income seniors.
The man knocked on the door of one of the inmates, according to filing with the courthouse Monday afternoon at the Montreal courthouse. When she refuses to open up to him, he tries a second address and tells the resident he’s lost, prosecutors summarized in the filing, Me Charles Doucet, Monday afternoon. An 86-year-old woman answers him, the door is open.
Charlie Fleming shoves her hard and pulls her pants off. He rubs his genitals against one of the victim’s buttocks and tries to penetrate them. The latter then lies on the ground, partially exposed and immobilized by the attacker. He is silent when the woman calls for help.
The resident of the apartment finally grabs her vacuum cleaner and hits the intruder several times with the object. He makes death threats. “Help, he’s killing me!” ‘ cries the elder in distress.
A neighbor, alarmed by his screams, comes to his aid and witnesses the attack. Charlie Fleming tries to flee but is quickly arrested outside the building by the summoned police.
recidivist
Charlie Fleming had previously been sentenced to six years in prison for sexual assault. Present in the defendant’s box, he remained unmoved throughout the trial, eyebrows furrowed.
The victim in this case, now 87, did not want to go to court. Out of respect for the victim, the court did not want to force her to testify. “He’s a vulnerable person. She didn’t want a trial, mainly because of her age,” the prosecutor said in an interview with Judge Pierre Labelle.
The verdict will be announced on Friday morning.