The last time she had to go to court, Océane* entered it backwards. When she saw her rapist appear on a courtroom screen, she burst into tears. From the depths of his cell, this repeat and dangerous sex offender demanded that Océane’s baby be subjected to a DNA test, just to prove that he was the father.
Océane then received the judgment like a blow to the chest: the court ruled in favor of the attacker and ordered him to submit his child to a genetic test. It was cruel, but it was the law.
A year and a half later, it is with the hope of putting an end to it that Océane will enter the courthouse today. A knot in the stomach, but my head held high. His story shook Quebec last year to the point of changing the law. And it is under these new legislative measures that his lawyers will now plead his case.
Jean-Maxim Lebrun is a lawyer specializing in litigation at Dunton Rainville. Like many Quebecers, the young dad was shocked when reading a column in which I recounted Océane’s nightmare, in August 2022. “We often read this kind of articles and say to ourselves: ‘ah, it’s “It’s a shame…” This time, however, I told myself that maybe I could do something. »
He contacted his colleague Daphné Duval, who specializes in family law. “If we take on this issue, will you support me? » The lawyer agreed. Together they worked for hours, pro bonoin Océane’s file.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Lawyers Jean-Maxim Lebrun and Daphné Duval
You remember his story. She was only 17 years old when she was raped by her roommate in July 2019. The young man had sneaked into the bathroom, naked, while she was washing her hair. He dragged her into the bedroom, where he attacked her. A passerby heard Océane’s cries and called the police. The attacker fled, naked, in his truck. The police caught him in another town, two hours away.
Released on conditions, he had time to attack three other women before being put out of harm’s way. He pleaded guilty to a litany of charges and was sentenced to 63 months in prison. His name had been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
In prison, he had decided to also have his name written… on the birth certificate of the child that Océane had given birth to, nine months after the rape. For this, he went to court. Incredibly, the judge who ordered the DNA test had not erred: nothing in the Civil Code of Quebec prevented a sexual attacker from claiming paternity of a child conceived during rape.
In other words, it was not the judgment that was absurd, but the Quebec legislation.
And the legislation has changed. The Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, announced it himself to Océane, in February 2023. “I wanted to tell you personally: thanks to you, thanks to the fact that you denounced, we are going to change the laws, we are going to change the ways of doing things. This can’t happen again. »
When the law came into force, in June 2023, Océane’s lawyers modified their request. “Originally, our strategy was to request the loss of parental authority,” explains Jean-Maxim Lebrun. It was not easy: in this matter, most of the precedents concern sexual violence perpetrated against the child, not against the mother.
The new law introduces the refusal of filiation. “It’s more definitive,” said M.e The brown. And what is really new is the notion of compensation that an attacker may now have to pay to the mother of a child born from rape. A bit like alimony, but not quite.
The problem with a pension, in a context like this, is that it maintains the link between the aggressor and the victim.
Jean-Maxim Lebrun, lawyer representing Océane
The new law instead speaks of a lump sum, paid only once. “After carrying out the judgment, we close the doors, it’s over, we allow the victim to move on. » At least, that’s how Océane’s lawyers interpreted the comments of the Minister of Justice during the adoption of the bill…
In the absence of precedent, they based themselves on the Regulations on the determination of alimony to calculate the amount that the attacker should pay to Océane, based on his meager income, to meet the child’s needs until he reaches the age of majority. They arrived at a minimum sum of $72,638.64.
On October 13, the attacker withdrew his paternity suit. Océane still chose to go to court today to settle the matter once and for all. “A withdrawal does not have the authority of what we call res judicata,” explains M.e The brown. No court has decided the case and the withdrawal does not mean that the attacker has definitively given up on his appeals.
If we simply let the file go, the risk is that the gentleman could reapply in six months, a year.
Jean-Maxim Lebrun, lawyer representing Océane
For Océane, this day in court will no less be a painful ordeal. Once again, she will likely be forced to see her attacker on a screen. Once again, she will have to hear the sound of his voice. She won’t have a choice – and that worries her. Terribly.
I would have liked to offer you a happy conclusion, to tell you that Océane was strong and determined, that she had now overcome her traumas. Unfortunately, life is not a fable, with a nice little moral at the end.
“I feel relieved to finally be able to finish all of this,” she wrote to me. But for a week, I stopped work, I made an appointment with my doctor, because I have a big lump inside of me. I am scared. I often have trouble breathing and can’t sleep. I’m exhausted and angry that I have to go through all of this. This could have been avoided a long time ago, if the DNA test had been refused. »
Good luck, Océane. And never forget that, thanks to you, other Quebecers will not have to live through your nightmare.
*The Press changed Océane’s first name in order to protect the identity of the victim and the child.