Judgment granting conditional discharge to sex offender Simon Houle not ‘bad legal judgment’, says criminal lawyer, but could mark ‘tipping point’ with possible court intervention call. The decision, however, illustrates the need for training of judges in matters of sexual violence, according to Ms.e Sophie Gagnon, from Juripop.
Posted at 6:30 p.m.
“Considered in the light of case law, the decision is not without precedent,” said Professor Hugues Parent, of the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal. However, “the #metoo movement, and the growing awareness of the problem of sexual assault that results from it, has considerably changed the situation both from a legal and social point of view”.
Judge Matthieu Poliquin, in a decision rendered in June, granted conditional discharge to Mr. Houle, an engineer from Trois-Rivières convicted of sexual assault. The 27-year-old man at the time stripped the victim naked while she was impaired and asleep before inserting his fingers into her vagina and taking photos of her body.
While the decision is not unprecedented, both Professor Parent and Ms.e Gagnon point out that a prison sentence is generally necessary in the event of sexual assault. “It is possible to have absolutions, it exists, it is provided for by the Criminal Code, but it is not usual as a sanction”, observes the general manager of Juripop.
Arousing significant media coverage, the judgment sparked outrage on social media and the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) announced that he would seek permission to appeal the judgment.
If the Court of Appeal grants this request, its decision “is in great danger of constituting a tipping point between a rather archaic vision of sexual assault and its consequences […] and a more modern vision, more sensitive to the reprehensibility and harmfulness of sexual violence against women,” according to Professor Parent.
“Without completely ruling out absolution in matters of sexual assault, it is quite possible that it will eventually be limited to touching of a more superficial nature,” he says.
The need to train judges
Me Gagnon said she was “surprised” to have read comments on the duration of the sexual assault in the judgment. “There is a single victim and a single event, which after all takes place quickly,” wrote Judge Poliquin.
In my opinion, the duration of the attack is in no way proportional to the seriousness of the crime that was committed or to the consequences of the crime on the victim.
Master Sophie Gagnon
The victim suffered serious consequences from this attack, can we read in the judgment. In particular, she was hospitalized for a week in psychiatry because she had dark thoughts, was off work for five months, had to delay the end of her university course, and she increased her consumption of alcohol and drugs. .
“A judgment on the sentence should not contain any comment on the duration of a sexual assault, slice the lawyer. The fact that we read about it today in judgments supports the importance of training judges in matters of sexual violence. In this regard, the creation of a court specializing in sexual violence will be beneficial, according to Ms.e Gagnon, since the project specifically provides for such training, for judges as well as for other stakeholders.