Adults are drinking beer. Children are having fun in the pool. It’s a summer barbecue like any other. A golden opportunity for a sexual predator. Under the pretext of a game of “cat and mouse,” he sexually assaulted three young girls. While the adults present at the party defended the pedophile, the judge believed the victims.
“The accused takes advantage of situations of proximity with each of the complainants to engage in the touching described, which he conceals behind a game context or which he perpetrates when he is alone with them,” concluded Judge Jean-Philippe Marcoux at the Longueuil courthouse on Monday.
German Luis Alfaro was found guilty of numerous counts of sexual interference with minors. Over a period of about ten years, the 57-year-old man from Saint-Hubert had four victims, girls aged 5 to 12. They were part of his entourage. Their identities are protected by the Court.
Three of the four victims were sexually assaulted on the same occasion during a summer party. After playing “Marco Polo”, German Luis Alfaro played “Cat and Mouse” with the girls. The accused was a “big cat” who chased his “little mice”. But it was not a game, quite the opposite.
A 12-year-old girl gave a terrifying account of the assaults. On seven occasions, German Luis Alfaro grabbed her from behind, placing one hand between her legs and the other on her chest. He became increasingly aggressive and invasive in his movements. He increasingly insisted on her vulva.
The teenager was panicking. She was screaming and asking him to let go. Each grip lasted up to 90 seconds. “She is increasingly exhausted, scared and feels disgusted. She wants to end it all, but simply feels captive in the pool in a place she doesn’t know in the presence of a majority of adults she doesn’t know either,” the judge reports.
Two other girls had a similar nightmare. They said that the accused inserted his fingers into their genitals. One victim claimed that the accused touched her breasts like a guitar. The young people did not reveal anything at the time. One teenage girl said that she was afraid of the accused and that it was not part of her “upbringing” to question adults.
These attacks took place right next to several adults who apparently saw nothing. Several of German Luis Alfaro’s relatives even testified in his defense. According to them, it was impossible for the accused to have made such gestures in front of them, while they were on the patio.
FACEBOOK OF GERMAN LUIS ALFARO
German Luis Alfaro, more recently
According to Judge Marcoux, adults who sexually abuse children do not always act rationally and do not always conduct themselves in a way that reduces their chances of being caught red-handed. This is a “wrongful generalization” of the behavior expected of an aggressor, he concludes.
While the victims gave “convincing”, “precise” and “spontaneous” testimonies, German Luis Alfaro multiplied the “contradictions” and “inconsistencies” in the dock. His testimony was “particularly laborious”, according to the judge. In his eyes, the victims had invented these stories.
On the pool episode, the accused repeatedly contradicted himself during cross-examination. He claimed to remember in minute detail the number of beers at the party and the brand of each beer, even though the party was quite ordinary and took place years ago.
“He shows no willingness to tell the truth in good faith, is not frank and lacks sincerity,” the judge concluded.
But German Luis Alfaro’s crimes don’t stop there. A few years ago, he touched the vulva of an 8-year-old girl, even though several people were in the room. He also touched the genitals of a 5-year-old girl, and then did it again a few years later. He also did the same to a victim while he was “playing” with several children.
The judge recalled that because of the trial, the victims had to describe “intimate, humiliating and painful” details of their childhood and that their credibility was challenged by the accused.
Still on parole, German Luis Alfaro now faces a harsh prison sentence.
Me Bruno Des Lauriers and Me Maude Lambert represents the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, while Me Gracinda Morais Fernandes defends the offender.