Sobhi Akra, who sexually assaulted eight young women, including two minors, in the middle of the street and sometimes in broad daylight, will serve his 12-month sentence in prison, and not at home as he had hoped.
When handing down his sentence, Judge Alexandre St-Onge spoke of the high number of victims, their vulnerability during attacks, and the consequences of the crimes committed.
“Firm incarceration is here the only appropriate sentence to express disapproval and to discourage future similar behavior,” said Judge St-Onge, Monday afternoon, at the Montreal courthouse.
The victims suffered significant consequences, which overlap in their written testimonies, the judge believes. He highlighted their fear of walking alone in the street, their state of hypervigilance, the modification of their lifestyle, their anger towards their attacker and the loss of their sense of freedom.
In January 2022, the 39-year-old father of four pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault and three counts of attempted sexual assault.
The accused perpetrated the assaults between October 2017 and November 2018. The offender surprised his victims from behind, grabbing their breasts or genitals. In particular, he slipped his hand under the skirt of the school uniform of a 17-year-old girl who was going to school.
“You are so sexy, I want to give you pleasure,” he said to one of the victims, recalled Judge St-Onge.
The accused has no criminal record. His risk of recurrence was assessed as lower than average.
In February, Judge St-Onge asked both sides to comment on federal Bill C-5, passed in November 2022, which allows sex offenders, among others, to serve their sentence in the community under certain conditions.
The defense attorney, Mr.e Réginal Victorin, who had previously requested six months less a day of incarceration to prevent the attacker from being deported to Lebanon, his country of origin, encouraged the judge to rule in favor of a suspended sentence.
For its part, the prosecution did not change its position, despite the adoption of Bill C-5, and demanded 22 months of detention.
The network of Crime Victims Assistance Centers (CAVAC) is relieved of the sentence handed down by Judge St-Onge, mainly for the victims.
“We want society to regain confidence in the justice system,” said CAVAC’s communications and public relations coordinator, Karine Mac Donald, reached by telephone.
Remember that last January, shortly after Bill C-5 was passed, a sex offender was sentenced to 20 months in prison to be served in the community. Jonathan Gravel, 42, had penetrated a woman in the anus without warning in 2014.