Some stereotypes no longer have a place in society, a judge reminds us: a woman who bathes with men during a party is in no way responsible for her possible sexual assault. A judge wanted to send this message by sentencing to three years in prison three friends who raped a woman in a spa.
“Society must understand that stereotypes that the victim continued or risked being assaulted by her presence are no longer acceptable. She still feels guilty even though she had every right to join other humans without expecting to be treated like an object placed at the disposal of three men seeking contemptuous, violent and collective sexuality,” insisted Judge Louise Leduc, at the Longueuil courthouse.
Since their sentences were imposed at the end of June, Guyllaume Thibault, a 31-year-old truck driver from Saint-Hyacinthe, Pierre-Luc Gosselin, 32, from Saint-Damase, and Vincent Jodoin Rodier, 33, from Saint-Pie, have been released on conditions by the Court of Appeal until the end of the appeal process.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Vincent Jodoin Rodier last February
After dragging out the legal process for more than six years, the three men were found guilty of group sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm last October. They wanted to get away with home imprisonment, while the Crown was asking for four years in penitentiary.
One evening in November 2016, Katy* went to a party in Saint-Pie, at the invitation of Guyllaume Thibault, a man she did not know well. When she arrived at midnight, there were six men, including the accused, and no women. Around 3 a.m., the accused insisted that she come to the spa (hot tub), because they were not “mean.”
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Guyllaume Thibault last February
In the water, Katy lives a real nightmare. Guyllaume Thibault, Pierre-Luc Gosselin and Vincent Jodoin Rodier sexually assault her.
“Her genitals are touched and she is taken by the neck, face, legs, thighs and hips. […] She feels strangled, squeezed. She receives “slaps”. She is pinched. Bitten,” the judge summed up in her guilty verdict.
When the assault ended, Guyllaume Thibault told her to put “a smile on her face”, while she was covered in bruises.
According to Judge Leduc, the three men took advantage of the victim’s vulnerability to commit this violent collective attack. “The criminal responsibility of the accused is complete. There were three of them. They all took advantage of the situation without stopping,” the judge stressed.
Society must understand, the judge insisted, that “courts do not endorse stereotypes.” “A woman can join men in a hot tub without having to worry about being sexually assaulted,” she said.
Even today, Katy feels responsible for her “recklessness” and feels ashamed of having gone to that party. She suffers from nightmares and hypervigilance. She was even denied her claim for compensation from IVAC, because her doctor had not signed a document. She did not have the energy to find another one.
The judge agrees that the risk of the accused reoffending seems “slim.” She notes that Vincent Jodoin Rodier and Guyllaume Thibault have “matured” in recent years. It is also because of these mitigating factors that the judge rejects Crown prosecutor M’s suggestion of four years of detentione Marie-Claude Morin.
“It would have been so desirable for this society to have had restorative justice in hand, which is not the case,” the judge said before leaving the bench.