An ex-policeman and mayor will have to pay his victim

Ex-policeman and former mayor of Montreal-North Gilles Deguire will have to pay nearly $300,000 to the teenager he had sexually abused and to his mother, ordered a judge, deploring that the attacker minimized his actions.

“He argues that [la victime] exaggerates both the scope of the abusive acts he allegedly committed and their impact on his psychological integrity. But the denial […] cannot defeat the facts presented in evidence, ”said Judge Michel Yergeau in condemning the former politician to loosen the strings of his purse.

Deguire, 72, had already been sentenced to six months in prison in 2017, for sexual contact with a minor, which occurred between 2013 and 2015. He was able to get out at the sixth of his sentence, but just after, the victim and his mother were filed a new lawsuit, this time civil, claiming $600,000 for the injuries suffered.

It is that according to two psychological reports, the victim received a diagnosis of major post-traumatic syndrome “accompanied by numerous symptoms, the impact of which will be felt for a long time to come”, can we read in the decision rendered this week.

“This shock will have had a harmful effect on the school results of the child and on his development,” added the magistrate.

During the civil trial, Deguire had tempered the assaults he had committed on the victim, even going so far as to partially renounce the summary of the facts that he himself had signed when pleading guilty to the criminal.

Prejudice

However, the evidence showed that, yes, Deguire had caused harm to the teenager, and that he should be punished in civil court for that.

In total, he will have to pay $240,000 to the victim, as well as $51,388 to his mother.

This is a lower amount than what they claimed, but the magistrate recalled that “the judgment is not intended to avenge the victim”.

To pay, Deguire will be able to use his severance pay from the City, nearly $99,000, or his pension of $90,000 per year.

“The introspection that his fall will have entailed and the criminal and civil legal proceedings will bring him little by little, it is to be hoped, to understand the true dimension of the consequences that he will have left on the victim”, concluded the judge, while emphasizing the determination of the latter and those close to her.