The AdA publishing house claims nearly 4 million from the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) for “irremediable damage” suffered as a result of the child pornography charges for the horror tale Hansel and Gretel by Yvan Godbout.
The case ” Hansel and Gretel continues, even after the acquittal of the author Yvan Godbout and his publisher AdA last year. However, the roles are reversed, and it is now AdA which is suing the DPCP in Superior Court.
Publishers were cleared in the fall of 2020 of the charges of producing and distributing child pornography that hung over them after the release of this book which described the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl by her stepfather. They now want to be compensated for the repercussions the case has had on their business, on their social and family life, as well as on their well-being.
Yvan Godbout, who faced justice for the same reasons and risked imprisonment, does not appear on the originating application. This is presented on behalf of AdA, its founding president François Doucet, its administrator Nancy Coulombe (his wife) and its general manager Nycolas Doucet (their son).
The publishing house believes that the lawsuit against her “caused irremediable and permanent damage and caused serious stigma of which she is still a victim today”, according to the document.
Some 3.4 million in pecuniary damages are claimed on behalf of Éditions AdA, in addition to $ 75,000 in moral and punitive damages. The three members of the publishing family, on their respective names, are asking for a total sum of $ 355,000 for moral and punitive damages.
“Indelible stigmata”
Just after their acquittal at the end of 2020, François Doucet confided to Press not to be “released or relieved” by the decision. The consequences of legal proceedings were already too heavy, he said. The application to institute proceedings presented to the Superior Court, the first stage of a prosecution, describes the repercussions that these serious charges had on the plaintiffs.
Thus, Editions AdA would have lost “important contracts”, given the sales of the novel. Hansel and Gretel fall, just like the other titles in the collection “Les contes interdits” – a rereading for an adult audience of children’s stories, of which the book was part. Employees also had to be made redundant.
François Doucet would have been unable to leave his home for months, would have lost “most of his friends” and would have “considered ending his life” after being publicly associated with a crime “the stigma of which is grave and indelible. Can we read in the document. Nycolas Doucet, “at the age of twenty-four and twenty-five, and at the dawn of a career in publishing alongside his father, […] has seen its name forever associated with the production and distribution of child pornography ”.
The three members of the family claim to have “suffered physical stress, anxiety, despair” and to have seen their social life greatly disrupted by the affair.
“Heavy and gross faults”
Following the complaint of a teacher in 2019, which did not directly lead to accusations, the lawsuits filed by the DPCP have “crystallized, increased tenfold and made irreversible the damage” caused by this whole affair, they add. .
The complaint notably accuses the DPCP of having committed “serious and gross” faults and of having instituted proceedings “without having reasonable and probable grounds allowing him to believe that he could obtain his conviction”.
The applicants believe that the “obvious purpose” of the proceedings was to test new law provisions relating to child pornography, at the expense of the accused.
In his acquittal decision in September 2020, the judge had also invalidated the amended articles of the Criminal Code relating to child pornography, which called into question the right to publish a work like the novel. Hansel and Gretel by Yvan Godbout.