A visual artist and lecturer at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) for more than 15 years got away with a very lenient sentence of eight months in prison on Friday. With his stories of child pornography, Robin Dupuis fed pedophiles on the web.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
“There is an expression in English: Take the money and run “Launched Judge Salvatore Mascia, when Robin Dupuis’s lawyer began to question the joint sentence suggestion that the parties had just presented. “Me too, I was expecting another figure”, then dropped the judge.
Three times, the judge let Robin Dupuis know how light the suggested sentence of eight months in prison was. “It’s the minimum sentence. I could easily have been offered a much higher figure,” he insisted. But as this sentence located at the “bottom of the scale” is not “unreasonable”, the judge endorsed it. A 2016 Supreme Court ruling requires judges to endorse virtually all common suggestions.
PHOTO FROM UQAM WEBSITE
Robin Dupuis
Robin Dupuis had been a lecturer at the school of visual and media arts at UQAM since January 2004, according to his CV published on the UQAM website. His lecturer profile, which was still online during the day on Friday even though he no longer teaches at the University, had disappeared from the site by evening.
“UQAM takes the charges against Mr. Dupuis very seriously and measures have been taken in this case. I inform you that the latter has not been teaching classes since the winter of 2021, ”commented Jenny Desrochers, director of communications at UQAM.
The charges of producing and possessing child pornography were filed in October 2018.
A founding member of the Perte de signal collective, Robin Dupuis has specialized in the media arts since the 2000s. However, he is not a leading figure in the visual arts community. “The artist strives to create precise constructions, environments made from scratch and explorations that exploit the possibilities of the digital platform”, can we read on the UQAM website.
“Imaginary fantasies” not without victims
The 49-year-old Montreal artist pleaded guilty last October to a less serious charge of possession of child pornography, filed summarily. The specific facts for which he admitted his guilt were not specified during the imposition of the sentence.
The defense attorney, Mr.e René Labrosse, said in summary that Robin Dupuis created “avatars” on a “site specializing in the field”. The Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Jérôme Laflamme cited Robin Dupuis’ “modus operandi” as an “aggravating factor”.
“He creates several profiles on the application, he feeds and arouses discussions and the transmission of messages, files, through the people who had this preference [sexuelle] “, he explained.
To justify such a lenient sentence, Mr.e Laflamme argued for the summary nature of the charge, the accused’s “low” risk of recidivism and the “positive” reports.
Me Labrosse made astonishing remarks during the hearing, emphasizing that we should not “forget that there were no victims”. “It was more at the level of imaginary fantasies,” he added. Judge Mascia did not react to these remarks.
However, case law is clear on this subject: child pornography is never a victimless crime. Dozens of decisions rendered in Quebec in recent years in cases of a similar nature attest to this.
“It is probably so obvious that it is almost useless to recall it, but crimes related to child pornography are not victimless crimes,” wrote Judge Serge Champoux of the Court of Quebec in January 2022.
“This activity makes it possible to maintain and feed deviant fantasies. It creates the impression of making the unacceptable acceptable,” insisted Judge Alexandre Dalmau in 2018.
The accused was also represented by Mr.e Michael Morena.