Westley Alectus, a former massage parlor owner who denied subjecting his girlfriend to prostitution has been convicted of pimping. Judge Pierre Dupras believed the story of the victim, an isolated woman, beaten and required to receive up to seven clients per day.
The 43-year-old Laval resident was found guilty of three counts related to procuring, as well as assault, on November 29, at the end of his trial which took place at the end of the summer at the palace of justice of Montreal. However, he was acquitted of assault with a weapon.
Iris * met Westley Alectus (also called Wesley in the plumitif) on Facebook in 2016 and in December decided to leave his region to live with him in Montreal. She dreams of going back to school. But Iris quickly becomes disillusioned, when another woman arrives in their apartment to prostitute herself several days a week. Iris has nowhere to go, however.
“You, you will soon jump on your high heels,” Alectus tells him, buying him some daring clothes. If she refuses to “work” she will have to leave. The pimp then prepares advertisements for him on several websites. The same day, Iris welcomes her first client.
Westley Alectus shows him a system of codes by text: 311 for “no danger”, 611 means “I’m afraid” and 911: “It’s really dangerous”. Two other figures specify the length of service required by the customer. So “311/300” means that everything is going well, the duration is 30 minutes.
When Iris asks him what proportion of the earnings she should give him, the pimp retorts: “Everything, you’re not an employee, you’re my girlfriend”. From December 2016 to Easter 2017, Iris estimates that she received between three and seven clients per day from Tuesday to Saturday and never received any money.
On Easter Day, when she refuses to have sex with him, Alectus hits her in the face with the back of his fist, to the point of making her bleed. Iris then thinks of fleeing. A week later, she takes shelter with a friend and goes to the police, but not to mention prostitution.
Iris returns to her native region, but ends up returning to the accused’s, on condition that she no longer prostitutes herself. Westley Alectus nevertheless asks him to go to the West “to escort”. Iris files a complaint again.
While he believed Iris’ testimony to be “consistent”, Judge Dupras completely rejected that of the accused. The latter claimed that Iris had taken the initiative to prostitute himself. Displeased, Alectus even said “sulk” at the beginning. However, messages between the accused and the victim contradict his “flawed” version.
“These messages constitute a sort of inventory of prostitution activities”, sums up the judge. In addition, Alectus sometimes signed its messages with “Prestige Mtl inc”. The pimp once had massage parlors, one of which was called Prestige Spa and massage. However, he says he did not know if sexual services were offered there.
Free during the proceedings, Westley Alectus will return to court next March for observations on the sentence.
Me Charles Doucet represents the public prosecutor, while Me Anna Ouahnich represents the accused.