A Montrealer who showed bestiality to his 10-year-old stepdaughter “because it’s funny” in addition to sexually abusing her failed to convince a judge that the little one had exaggerated, as he had done it with the child’s mother.
“His testimony does not have the credibility or reliability required to be accepted by the court,” judge Claude Lachapelle ruled this week at the Joliette courthouse.
The unworthy 51-year-old father-in-law, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his little victim, will therefore have to pay for his criminal actions committed in 2019, while he lived in Lanaudière with his partner and the daughter of this one, among others.
“He has a paternal attitude towards her, he looks after and takes care of her, he is caring,” explained the judge.
“Secret” abuse
Except that on several occasions, he had taken advantage of his partner’s absence to attack his daughter-in-law, with sexual touching of her buttocks, in bed.
“It’s our little secret,” the accused told the little girl.
At another time, while other people were in the residence, he entered the child’s bathroom to commit another sexual act, under the pretext of helping the child.
And as if it wasn’t enough to sexually abuse her, he also showed her illegal videos.
“[La victime] explained that the accused asked him to come see him, adding that it was funny, explained the judge. She therefore goes to join the accused and at that moment he shows her a film which contains bestiality.
Low maternal support
Unable to take it any longer, the little girl finally spoke about it to her mother. However, if the latter had confronted her partner, she had finally been convinced by his explanations, wanting it to be a misunderstanding.
“Later, the plaintiff’s mother suggests to her that she may have exaggerated,” the judgment reads.
Feeling “betrayed” by her mother, the little girl who was under pressure finally denied her words. Except that six months later, she gathered up her courage to go to the police station.
And unlike her family, the investigator believed her and opened a file, which led to accusations of sexual contact and “sexual immorality where a child lives.”
During the trial, the unworthy stepfather tried to bring out the same version of the facts that he presented to his partner, except that the judge was not fooled, especially since the child had kept messages incriminating texts.
Found guilty, the father-in-law will return to court in June, for pleadings on the sentence to be imposed on him. However, it is certain that he should go to prison, since sexual contact with minors under the age of 16 carries a minimum of one year of incarceration.