A gym teacher with wandering hands could now find himself behind bars for sexually assaulting two students‘a high school in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
• Special file – Predators in our schools
“There is a line that should not be crossed. Gestures just don’t exist. [L’enseignant] interacts with adolescent girls and it is important to protect their sexual integrity,” lamented Judge Éric Simard in sentencing Patrice Dumouchel last month.
The former sports teacher at Marcel Landry high school was then found guilty of sexually assaulting two of his students outside the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu courthouse.
hand between breasts
Dumouchel, who described himself as “very tactile” at his trial, sometimes took one of them aside to talk to her and he took the opportunity to put his hand on her tailbone.
Once he picked her up from her class for a doctor’s certificate and put his hand between her breasts as they talked in the hallway.
“Then she froze in shock. After this inappropriate touch, she felt offended and avoided any approach,” the judge said.
Dumouchel grabbed another teenager by the front of her sweater, touching her breasts in the process. This caused much uneasiness and anxiety in this reclusive young girl who was having great difficulty asserting herself at the time.
Reasonable doubt
The 55-year-old teacher was acquitted of a dozen other charges, including sexual interference and sexual exploitation of two other students.
Among other allegations, he was accused of giving a high five (clapping her hands) to a teenager before continuing the gesture by slapping her on the butt, as well as being taken over by another girl who was trying to grab herself recover ball on the floor during a lesson.
For those events, however, the court was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that there was intent for sexual gratification.
“In the times we are living in right now, the gesture is certainly inappropriate and [il] would be very interested in having his behavior reviewed,” said Judge Simard nonetheless.
Crown prosecutor Me Martin Bourgeois has announced his intention to seek a custodial sentence. “We’re talking about two victims and a teacher who held a position of authority,” he told the judge.
Patrice Dumouchel has been suspended from high school since January 2019 after one of the four complainants reported him to a school psychoeducator. The verdict will be announced next June.
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last august, The newspaper demonstrated a profile of 56 Quebec school workers who have been charged or convicted in the past six years.
The list is long and has something that excites parents.
“If parents drive their child back to school, leave them in a place they think is safe. It’s like a second family that you trust because it helps create the most valuable person you see,” said Deborah Trent, director of the Montreal Center for Sexual Assault Victims, in this report released in August.
If some choose this job to be surrounded by children, most teachers act when the situation arises, the experts say.