A 30-year-old predator who dated a 15-year-old for more than a year claiming to be 15 himself got off Friday with a year in prison, a particularly lenient sentence. Also condemned for having hit a journalist, Christophe Villeret showed little remorse and even felt sorry for his fate.
“Two articles came out. I was very scared, I was depressed after the event [sur le journaliste]. I was fired from my job… I had a tough, tough six months. I was paranoid in the street. It was not easy “, complained the pedophile, before admitting lip service that his gesture was” not acceptable “.
In November 2020, a few minutes after the victim of the pedophile confided in the court on the trauma suffered at the hands of Christophe Villeret, the latter attacked the judicial journalist of the Journal of Montreal Michael Nguyen. In front of two representatives of Press, Christophe Villeret struck a violent kick to the journalist, who is also president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec.
The pedophile pleaded guilty on Friday to assault for the assault and was sentenced to 14 days in prison. Before judge Marie-Josée Di Lallo, Michael Nguyen denounced the “act of cowardice” of Christophe Villeret. “To attack journalists, that does not make sense in a society like ours,” lamented the journalist, who insisted on the increase in cases of intimidation against journalists.
“Journalists have the right to do their jobs safely. And the gesture you committed at the courthouse is unacceptable, ”the judge concluded.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, PRESS ARCHIVES
Christophe Villeret, photographed in November 2020
Sordid Stratagem
Christophe Villeret’s ploy to abuse a 15-year-old girl is particularly sordid. When he was 31 years old in 2008, he managed to make his victim believe he was only 15 years old thanks to a forged birth certificate. Christophe Villeret had met the victim on a meeting platform for adolescents on the internet.
For a year, Christophe Villeret had full sexual relations with the victim on numerous occasions. The teenager ended the relationship in 2009, when she realized that Christophe Villeret had communicated with his younger sister. She lodged a complaint 10 years later and remains branded with a hot iron by these abuses.
Despite the gravity of the crime, Christophe Villeret was only sentenced to one year in prison. Crown Attorney Me Jérôme Laflamme explained to the judge at length the context surrounding this unusual common suggestion. “It was negotiated before the Friesen judgment”, repeated Me The flame.
It is that at the time of the admission of guilt of the accused in 2019, the Supreme Court had not yet rendered the Friesen judgment, which came to toughen the sentences in matters of sex crimes against children. “I would never have proposed this sentence after Friesen. Applying the case law at the time, a sentence of one year was reasonable, ”explained the prosecutor. The judge accepted the argument and endorsed the common suggestion.