A pastor sentenced to five years in prison for physically abusing his children pleads with the authorities to release him in time for Christmas, even though he still downplays the actions to which he pleaded guilty.
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Between 1980 and 2004, the pastor of the Biblical Baptist Church of the Eastern Townships Mario Monette corrected his children almost daily with dozens of blows with a stick or a belt. The 68-year-old man and his wife, Carole Van Houtte, were respectively sentenced to five and four years in prison for multiple charges of assault with a weapon, threats and forcible confinement.
Less than 20 months after his incarceration at Archambault prison, Mario Monette asked the parole board to grant him full parole, imploring the commissioners to be able to “spend the holidays with my family”. If some of his eight children have never forgiven the accused and have even sued him in civil proceedings, other children devote him an unconditional adoration.
controlling pastor
From the outset, Mario Monette’s case management team opposed any form of release. Her intervenor was especially concerned about Monette’s desire to regain her ministry as a pastor.
“It is estimated that he could use his influence to propagate his rigid ideas and his distortions and to maintain a certain control over the people who attend his church,” argued his parole officer. The latter said she was worried that he would attack vulnerable people, in particular by forcing his followers to give money to his church.
She points out that the pastor still minimizes the violent acts for which he nevertheless pleaded guilty. “He seeks to protect his image as a good father and a respected pastor,” explained the agent to the commissioners.
Biblical principle
In response, Pastor Monette said he was “offended” by this analysis, believing that his agent had “prejudices” towards his church. “The Bible is still the most widely read book in the world,” defended the pastor.
Monette was also confronted by the commissioners who asked him what he got out of the repeated corrections inflicted on his children. Once again, the pastor had difficulty admitting that he had used excessive force.
“I am an intense person, I saw that there was difficulty for some of my children to obey and I wanted to bring them to obedience”, he explained, speaking of his “children rebels”.
Still, the pastor recalled that he had reformed before his indictment, he who stopped all physical correction in 2004. “I was excessive in the way of applying it, I regret all that”, has he conceded several times.
His lawyer, Me Sylvie Bordelais also pleaded in favor of the conditional release of the offender, recalling that the risk of him attacking his children, now aged 31 to 48, “is pretty much non-existent”.
The two commissioners took their decision under advisement and will render their verdict within 15 days. The pastor’s spouse, Carole Van Houtte, is already on full parole.