“It took a long time. »
It took 40 years for young primary school girls who were victims of molestation at school to finally obtain compensation. Former physical education teacher Gilles Robineau was found guilty Monday morning of touching seven students at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse.
“I’m very relieved,” said one of the victims, who we cannot identify due to a court order.
During the trial, the victims testified that from the age of 8, 9 or 10, the now 72-year-old teacher took advantage of physical education classes, in the mid-1970s until the early 1990s. 80, to touch them on the chest or genitals.
The victims were present Monday morning at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse and embraced when judge Christian Jarry declared in his verdict that for seven out of nine complainants, he is “convinced beyond all doubt of [la] guilt” by Gilles Robineau.
It was in 2017 that the first complaints were filed. The “common thread”, writes Judge Jarry in his report: “pre-pubescent girls inconvenienced by the hands of the teacher”. Gilles Robineau claimed that these were “accidental” gestures, which the judge did not believe.
In his judgment, Judge Christian Jarry attacks the credibility of the ex-teacher. “In short, the combination of certain improbable answers […] and the contrast in the behavior of the accused between the interrogation and the cross-examination makes him lose all credibility,” he writes.
“I am very relieved,” declared, moved, one of the plaintiffs, in an interview after the reading of the judgment.
“It took a long time. I think of the young victims. I’m 50 years old, I’m fine, but I think of the teenagers or young adults who have experienced the same thing. I tell myself that the system is still a little rough for people who are going through a situation like ours,” she testified.
“My life before reporting was lighter than after 2018. It’s very, very difficult,” she added.