Former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of sexually assaulting two young men on separate occasions.
The Crown and the defense made a joint sentencing suggestion to Judge Pierre Labelle of two years less a day in prison.
The Superior Court judge indicated that he wishes to reflect before deciding whether or not to endorse this suggestion, which also includes two years probation and a ban on contact with the two victims.
The 56-year-old man, who was delegate general of Quebec in New York from 2012 to 2013, will therefore know his fate on July 18.
For the Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Jérôme Laflamme, it was important that the criminal proceedings end in a prison sentence, given the offenses committed, which “must be punished in proportion to their seriousness”.
“Only a prison sentence sent the appropriate message of denunciation and deterrence,” he told media after the hearing.
Present in a courtroom at the Montreal courthouse, the ex-politician, standing in front of Judge Labelle, twice answered “guilty” when asked what plea he was recording for the charge of sexual assault and for sexual assault with the help of another person. A conditional stay of proceedings was pronounced on the third count, that of sexual assault with a weapon.
Tanned, dressed in a well-cut blue-gray coat, André Boisclair chatted and laughed with a man seated at his side, while waiting for the start of the hearing.
But when his two victims testified, he listened, tense, to the story of their injuries. The identities of the two young men are protected by a publication ban.
In the first case, the attack was committed in January 2014. After having conversations with him on social media, the victim went to the home of André Boisclair, where other people were then. Some consensual sexual gestures are made, but at one point, Mr. Boisclair indicated to two men to grab and penetrate him. The victim does not want to and struggles: André Boisclair holds his chest while another tries to penetrate him, but does not succeed. He finally tells the others to let him go. The two accomplices remain unidentified to date, said Mr.e The flame. This summary of the facts was first released publicly on Monday.
In the case of the other young man, also in his twenties, he met André Boisclair through a dating application in November 2015. They chatted while drinking beer, but at one point, André Boisclair imposed on him sexual gestures which he did not want, including digital penetration. He told him to “stop” three times before he stopped.
Marked for life
The two young men explained to Judge Labelle on Monday how much they were affected.
The former said he lost self-confidence, had panic attacks, failed to finish his studies, stopped working multiple times “because depression took over” and started to take drugs “to escape his distress”.
“I had plans to take my life,” he said, crying.
Also troubled, the second explained that the actions of André Boisclair left him “a deep wound”. “I am marked for life,” said the young man, who described himself as being at a vulnerable time, having just “come out” barely a year ago. He recounted having experienced shame, fear, and always having difficulty getting in touch with people, having also closed himself off from intimate relationships.
For his part, André Boisclair’s lawyer, Mr.e Michel Massicotte, indicated that he lived at this time of anxiety, because he was the victim of defamation and had even had to bring a civil suit. The anxiety caused by this case led him to take medication, he said, noting that he had taken narcotics at the same time: thus, during the events “his judgment was considerably impaired, because, among other things, of this interaction”.
The defense lawyer insisted that he has since undergone therapy with a psychiatrist who specializes in drug addiction as well as psychotherapy. He will continue his professional follow-up, assured Me Massicotte. When the charges were filed in the first case, Boisclair submitted his resignation to the Urban Development Institute of Quebec (IDU), which he had chaired since 2016.
Me Massicotte also pointed out to the magistrate that his client, by pleading guilty, spared the victims the anxiety of having to testify again.
From the beginning of the criminal proceedings, he had made it known “that he did not in any way wish that the proceedings add to the suffering of the victims”.
Mr. Boisclair chose not to address the Court or his two victims on Monday. However, he gave them “apology letters” through the lawyers.