A sexual predator who posed as a police officer to sexually assault sex workers was sentenced on Tuesday to a “very serious” sentence of eight years in prison. The victims of Mohamad Abdool Koheeallee were “particularly vulnerable” women, according to the judge.
“The crimes are premeditated and planned. The victims are chosen because of their occupation. […] The victims were vulnerable women chosen because of their personal situation, ”said Judge Yves Paradis on Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse.
The magistrate thus agreed with the arguments of the Crown which claimed eight years of detention against the accused in order to denounce these attacks against “four innocent women […] chosen because of their profession.
At the previous hearing, one of the victims had also sent a powerful message to the court about the reality of sex workers in Montreal. “I am aware that society has a lot of prejudices against the escort profession, but I would like to mention that, like all other women, we deserve to be respected. »
Trained in engineering, the 38-year-old Montrealer was a sexual predator after dark. His modus operandi was well established: he fixed an appointment with a sex worker. Once she was in his vehicle, he held up a police badge, introduced himself as an “undercover” police officer and informed the woman that she was facing a criminal record. He then offered his victim to perform oral sex on him to avoid being arrested.
In six months, in 2019 and 2010, Mohamad Abdool Koheeallee thus sexually assaulted three women, convinced that they were under the yoke of a real policeman. One of the victims was an 18-year-old ex-runaway. A fourth victim was released by the accused without being assaulted, but was the victim of extortion.
“He showed no compassion or consideration for these women,” said the judge.
The 18-year-old victim was particularly shaken by the very intrusive sexual assault she suffered. “I quickly fell into drugs to forget. […] Panic attacks are part of my daily life, ”she testified last May. She was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease and required surgery.
“The psychological sequelae on all the victims are significant: anxiety, hypervigilance and loss of trust in others. In the case [de la victime de 18 ans]the consequences are dramatic,” said the judge.
According to the judge, Mohamad Abdool Koheeallee exploited the “vulnerability of sex workers to the police because of the context of their occupation”. This is therefore an aggravating factor. In the eyes of the accused, the sex workers were “accustomed”, since it was their “livelihood”. He saw his crimes as a “fraud”.
The expert reports do not paint a positive portrait of the predator, whose risk of recidivism is in the “average” of other offenders. Even after three years in prison, the engineering graduate – who was a junior engineer until 2016 – still uses “rhetorical and intellectual” discourse instead of introspection. The judge even mentions “a clever mix of minimization, intellectualization, rationalization and externalization” in his speech.
Crown prosecutor M.e Anna Levin was satisfied. “These were clearly frightened women, who experienced real trauma. They were women in a very vulnerable context, ”she said, in a press scrum.
“The most important message is to denounce. Victims must report, regardless of their situation. […] It led, three years later, to a conviction and a very serious sentence, ”insisted Mr.e Wine.
The defense attorney, M.e Marie-Hélène Giroux, claimed five years of detention.
As Mohamad Abdool Koheeallee has been detained since January 2020, he has already served more than half of his eight-year sentence, since the preventive time is calculated at time and a half.