Judge Matthieu Poliquin made “errors” in his judgment concerning Engineer Simon Houle, on whom he imposed an “unreasonable sentence”, pleaded the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) before the Court of Appeal, in Quebec, Friday.
The DPCP is trying to convince the Court of Appeal to look into the decision that allowed Mr. Houle to obtain a conditional discharge for a sexual assault that occurred in 2019.
Simon Houle’s lawyer, Pierre Spain, believes for his part that the Court of Appeal does not have to intervene, in particular because the judge “has full discretion to impose a sentence that he considers fair and appropriate”. .
The appellant argues that an appropriate sentence would rather be 15 to 18 months in prison, including three months for voyeurism, since Simon Houle had taken nine photos of the victim during the attack.
In July, Simon Houle had obtained an absolution, the judge having notably considered that a criminal file would have “negative and disproportionate consequences” on his career as an engineer.
In the eyes of the DPCP, this judge should have taken into account that the accused had kept his photos for 44 days in his cell phone. He also criticizes Judge Poliquin for having minimized “the relentlessness shown by the respondent and the duration of the assault” by writing that the latter had been “all in all rapid”.
The three judges of the Court of Appeal took the case under advisement late Friday morning.
The decision of the trial judge in this case had caused a real outcry and led to demonstrations. Judge Matthieu Poliquin had been the subject of complaints before the Quebec Judicial Council, which dismissed them all, arguing that it was up to the Court of Appeal to review judgments.
In parallel with the proceedings in the Court of Appeal, Simon Houle could lose his conditional discharge for other reasons. On December 2, he pleaded guilty to charges of breach of probation. The Court’s decision in this case has not yet been rendered.