A Montreal man sentenced to seven years in prison in 2021 for subjecting a woman to an excruciating hammer torture session is now accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl about ten years ago, then again while she was of adult age.
Frantgy Espacio Jean-Marie, alias “Catafal”, faces four counts of sexual contact with a minor and sexual assault. According to the arrest warrant filed this week at the Montreal courthouse, the 34-year-old man allegedly attacked the same complainant for the first time between 2012 and 2013, when she was under 16 years old. Then, in 2021, he allegedly sexually assaulted this woman again.
Frantgy Espacio Jean-Marie was convicted in 2021 of sexual assault with a weapon, assault with a weapon and false imprisonment against a woman in a story of extreme violence. Sentenced to seven years in detention, he was released pending appeal proceedings.
The torturer preyed on his victim for four years, between 2014 and 2018. On one occasion, he punched the victim in the face to “see her pain tolerance”. A few years later, he imposed a torture session on his victim. He hit her with a hammer every time she gave him an answer deemed “lie”. She received 5 to 10 blows to her hip, back and elbow.
Still sequestered the next day, the victim suffered a rare atrocity attack at the hands of her executioner. The victim was then gagged with a scarf and begged him to stop. The details of this attack are particularly distressing.
On the third day, the victim managed to free himself from his tormentor by tearing a piece of paper from a Bible and writing a desperate plea for help. While accompanying her attacker to a car dealership in Laval, the victim gave the note to a receptionist. The police finally released her.
The trial judge believed the victim’s initial statement, although she recanted it during the trial. An “implausible” retraction, according to the judge.
Frantgy Espacio Jean-Marie was acquitted earlier this year of assault and kidnapping.