A man guilty of repeatedly sexually assaulting a trans woman who gave him half of her earnings from prostitution got away with an extremely lenient sentence of 90 days in prison because of his “very convincing” rehabilitation.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Imposing a long prison sentence on Jacob Laporte would be “totally counterproductive”[f] for society, concluded Judge Érick Vanchestein on September 28 at the Montreal courthouse. At no time was the fact that the victim was a trans woman considered in sentencing.
This case is not a “classic case” in terms of the commodification of sexual services, argues the judge, since the victim prostituted herself “voluntarily” and was “free” of her choices.
The victim met Jacob Laporte in May 2018 on a dating site. During their first sexual relationship, the 32-year-old man claims to have experienced a “discomfort” at the sight of the victim’s penis. He then made things clear with her: “To be his girlfriend, you have to be an escort. A “sine qua non” condition. At trial, he claimed that this “agreement” would allow the victim to “satisfy his sexual needs”, which he could not do.
The victim ended up giving up her job to devote herself to prostitution for months. She would then hand over half of her income to the accused. The resident of Granby was found guilty last December of several counts related to the commodification of sexual services.
He was, however, acquitted of the more serious counts of pimping and human trafficking, despite giving “implausible” and not very credible testimony.
The victim, on the contrary, offered a “spontaneous, transparent and candid testimony”, according to Judge Vanchestein.
But the magistrate concluded that the victim had “voluntarily invested” in prostitution to make a “quick gain” in order to pay for the surgeries necessary for his “bodily transformation”. In short, the accused and she entered into an “agreement”, even if the accused derived a profit from it, according to the judge.
The victim claims to have clearly said no
Jacob Laporte also forced the victim on at least two occasions to perform oral sex on him. On these occasions, the victim claims to have clearly said no to a sexual relationship. This did not prevent the accused from pulling her “strongly by the hair” into the bedroom to sexually assault her. In another episode, the accused pushed the victim with his elbow out of the car, committing an assault. Jealous, he also broke the victim’s phone.
The Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Luc Pagé, demanded three and a half years in prison, a sentence far from being extraordinary for such crimes. However, in an “exceptional manner”, Judge Vanchestein deviated considerably from the usual sentences.
The judge gave Jacob Laporte a 15-month house jail sentence for the prostitution-related counts and, for the sexual assaults, a 90-day jail sentence to be served on weekends during the three-year probation period. year.
The judge factored the defendant’s six-month therapy and seven-month pre-trial detention into his calculation.
“serious efforts”
Judge Vanchestein justifies such a sentence by the “serious efforts” of Jacob Laporte to integrate into society for three years. The 30-year-old has indeed stopped using drugs, obtained a diploma after having abandoned his studies at the age of 15, found a good job in the field of electromechanics and cut ties with his bad associations.
“The Court is convinced that the accused has made a particularly convincing demonstration of his rehabilitation since the arrest”, concludes Judge Vanchestein.
Thus, according to the judge, a long prison sentence would be “counter-productive” for the accused and for society. Two evaluation reports stress, however, that the risk of recidivism “cannot be excluded”.
To enable him to succeed in his social reintegration, Jacob Laporte must be able to stay sober, keep his job and take care of his family, concludes the judge. He also believes that the sentence is also “dissuasive and denunciatory”.
Me Justine Levasseur defended the accused.