A repeat child abductor was declared a dangerous offender by the Superior Court of Quebec on Wednesday morning at the Granby courthouse in Estrie.
• Read also: Multi-recidivist kidnapper: an unflattering portrait of Jean-Pierre Bellemare
Jean-Pierre Bellemare was convicted in May 2021 of the kidnapping and forcible confinement of a 12-year-old girl for the purpose of obtaining a ransom.
In addition to being declared a dangerous offender, Judge Gaétan Dumas sentenced the notorious 56-year-old criminal to an indeterminate prison term.
With the help of an accomplice, Jean-Guy Vallières, Bellemare kidnapped a 12-year-old girl on her way to catch the school bus in September 2018 in Sutton.
Gagged and thrown to the bottom of this Dodge Caravan, the victim was taken to a house in the area to tie her up with adhesive tape and lock her in this wardrobe.
Bellemare and Vallières then went to a Tim Horton to get internet access and communicate by Messenger with the mother, a CIBC Bank employee in the village to demand a ransom.
Fortunately, the little girl managed to get rid of her bonds to flee in their absence.
The 56-year-old accused was arrested as he was about to pass a US customs post in Vermont in possession of a firearm and his kidnapper’s mask.
Bellemare is a repeat offender who has already been convicted for the kidnapping and forcible confinement of a 13-year-old teenager in Laval in 1986.
Dr. Alexandre Dumais of the Philippe-Pinel Institute of Forensic Psychiatry portrays the accused as a being without remorse or feelings of guilt with antisocial and narcissistic traits.
He is also awaiting trial in Montreal for sexual assault and the kidnapping of two officers from a halfway house.
Jean-Pierre Bellemare appealed the guilty verdict pronounced in May 2021.
If the highest court in Quebec were to overturn the verdict and order a new trial, the decision rendered on Wednesday could at the same time become null and void.