Convicted last year of indecent assault for acts committed in the 1970s, the former actor Edgar Fruitier will have to go to prison by next Monday, despite his advanced age, to serve his sentence. six months’ imprisonment.
Posted at 6:26 p.m.
This was decided by a panel of three judges of the Court of Appeal in a decision published Monday.
Comedian and host admired for his brilliant career in theater and television, Edgar Fruitier was convicted in 2020 of two counts of indecent assault. The artist got his hands on a teenager’s penis on three occasions in 1974 and 1976, when the boy was 15, then 17, for which he was sentenced to a six-month prison sentence .
By imposing such a prison sentence, Judge Marc Bisson had then applied the principles of the Friesen judgment. This recent decision by the Supreme Court aims to protect children by, in particular, toughening the penalties for child molesters. It also specifies that sexual touching constitutes sexual assault.
A child within the meaning of the law
On appeal, Edgar Fruitier’s lawyer had pleaded that his victim was not a “child within the meaning of the law” in the 1970s, even though he was 15 when the first attack took place, given that the The age of sexual consent was set at 14.
However, an adolescent under the age of 18 is still considered a child within the meaning of the Friesen judgment, decided the judges of the Court of Appeal.
“Drawing on the Friesen decision and relying on the current understanding of child sexual abuse, the trial judge correctly addressed the issue of sentencing in the appellant’s case,” wrote Judge Yves-Marie Morissette in his decision.
The latter also rejected the other argument put forward by Edgar Fruitier’s lawyer that his client is too old and too sick to serve his sentence behind bars.
With Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press