A man who assaulted a woman in her sleep enjoys clemency from a judge who sentenced him to serve his sentence in the community, even though he himself was willing to go to jail.
“The circumstances of this case mean that imprisonment in the community is sufficiently dissuasive,” judge Julie Beauchesne ruled in a recent decision.
It is that the new law known as C-5 passed by Ottawa now ensures that certain offenses, including sexual assault, are again eligible for imprisonment in the community.
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Félix Boudreau-Dénommé, 23, admitted last September to sexually assaulting a woman he met on Facebook Dating in 2021. The identity of the victim is protected by a publication ban.
The Crown and Boudreau-Dénommé’s lawyer had agreed to suggest a 15-month prison sentence during sentencing representations at the Granby courthouse.
Joint suggestion rejected
However, before endorsing the joint suggestion, Judge Beauchesne asked “the parties whether they had assessed the possibility of the sentence being served in the community. It is in this context that the accused [a répudié] the common suggestion”, can we read in the judgment.
The Crown then requested 24 months in custody, while the defense suggested 15 months to be served in the community.
Boudreau-Dénommé will eventually have to serve an 18-month sentence in the community with three years probation.
“The conditional sentence does not endanger the safety of the community given the absence of a criminal record and the low risk of recidivism,” Judge Beauchesne said.
Women like it, pleads the accused
Boudreau-Dénommé and the victim, then 20, met for the first time at the latter’s home in September 2021.
They then listened to a movie, then headed to the bedroom.
“The same evening, they have two consensual sexual relations with unprotected vaginal penetration. The accused asks the victim if she wants a third sexual relationship, but she refuses and falls asleep.
“The next morning, when she wakes up, she feels the accused penetrating her vaginally. She does not move, does not react and pretends to remain asleep, ”we continue.
Boudreau-Dénommé, who works in the construction sector, dared to behave like this because “there are many women who like to be woken up like this,” he told the court.
The victim lives a martyrdom
The gestures were destructive to the victim, who now suffers from “guilt, anxiety, depression and insomnia”, argues Judge Beauchesne.
“She wanted to develop her sexuality with this individual and not live an ordeal,” she continues.
“Despite having difficulty forgiving himself and accepting what he did, the accused does not believe that the victim could be grappling with sequelae,” we learn.
In addition to having to respect several conditions as part of his sentence, Félix Boudreau-Dénommé will be on the sex offender register for the next 20 years.