A Pointe-Claire individual who sexually assaulted his two stepdaughters between 2015 and 2017 was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse.
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The 48-year-old man, whose name must be withheld to protect the identity of the victims, had collected the confidences of the teenage girls, aged between 14 and 17 at the time of the events, and had taken advantage of the bond of trust established with them. .
Under the pretext that he had to “examine” them, the sex offender was waiting to find himself alone with one of them in a room in the family home in Vaudreuil-Dorion to satisfy his base instincts.
The judge of the Court of Quebec, Bertrand St-Arnaud, described the crimes as “particularly serious”, specifying that the degree of physical harm varied from high to very high respectively for each of them. Indeed, the aggressor had full sexual relations with the youngest of his stepdaughters.
“It is very clear from the statements [des victimes] that the criminal acts committed by the accused caused them significant emotional and psychological harm,” declared Judge St-Arnaud. The magistrate also read excerpts from letters written by the victims describing the consequences that resulted from the attacks.
“For a long time I tried to understand why these horrible events took place. […] But I couldn’t find an answer. [Les agressions] were unexpected […] and unwanted,” wrote one of the victims.
“I felt so disgusted with myself in my skin that I wanted to pull my hair out,” she testified in her letter, adding that “it is sad to admit that [les agressions] it is not something that can disappear: it happened and it will always be with me.”
Sentence
In this case, the Crown was asking for a sentence of eight to nine years in prison, while the defense thought that three and a half years would have been an appropriate sentence.
But the person presiding over the court has identified many aggravating factors, such as the number of victims, the duration and frequency of criminal acts, the degree of physical harm, ill-treatment of family members, breach of trust and of authority, etc. On the side of mitigating factors, it was found that the accused has always been an asset to society.
Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud finally ruled for an overall sentence of six years in prison.
Note that the offender appealed the guilty verdict, since he believes he was the victim of a police error.
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Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com