The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) wants to appeal the case of Simon Houle, an engineer who received a conditional discharge after sexually assaulting a woman. He will therefore not have a criminal record because the judge considered, among other factors, that this would have “negative and disproportionate consequences” on his career.
Since the judgment was reported by the media on Monday, many voices have been raised to criticize this sentence considered too lenient, which would minimize the seriousness of sexual assaults.
On Tuesday, Simon Houle’s employer fired him. Then, the DPCP announced that it would appeal this absolution decreed in June by Judge Matthieu Poliquin of the Court of Quebec. The latter had also imposed a three-year probation on him, a ban on contact with his victim and the continuation of a path in psychotherapy.
“A motion for leave to appeal is being drafted and will be filed with the Court of Appeal by July 21,” said on Twitter DPCP spokesperson Audrey Roy-Cloutier.
The victim was notified of the DPCP’s intention, she adds. The public prosecutor had instead asked for 18 months in prison.
The victim suffered seriously from this aggression: she increased her consumption of alcohol and drugs, experienced school failures and dark thoughts led her to be hospitalized in psychiatry, can we read in the decision.
In this case, Simon Houle had pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault and voyeurism.
According to the evidence reported by the magistrate in his judgment, the victim fell asleep in a bedroom after a party with friends in 2019. She woke up as Simon Houle moved back and forth in his private parts and had unfastened her bra to expose her breasts. He took photos of her, which were later recovered by the police.
“There is one victim and a single event, which takes place after all quickly,” writes the judge who sits in the district of Trois-Rivières.
“Transparency”
On the other hand, the nine photos make it possible to establish that Simon Houle still had time to take pictures of the private parts of the victim in two different places in the apartment. The photographs also show the intrusive and serious nature of the actions taken, in addition to constituting a flagrant case of abuse of a vulnerable victim, we can read.
The man, who is now 30, also admitted to having committed similar acts on one occasion in the past on another woman. “Troubling” facts, according to the magistrate, but which “also demonstrates his transparency and the seriousness of the psychological approach he is undertaking. »
Judge Poliquin notes that he recognized the facts and his wrongs from the outset, is undergoing therapy and has a “strong potential for social reintegration” and a low risk of recidivism. He notes his “young age” at the time of the events — he was 27 — and his lack of a prior record in such matters. The gestures made are “contextual and specific in his life”, he notes.
Given these factors, the judge considered that a conditional discharge was the appropriate sentence in his specific case “even if it can be said that a discharge is a sentence rarely imposed for this type of offence”, whereas imprisonment is usually privileged. Every rule has its exceptions, he continues.
Without being perfect, he is a person “of good character”, writes the judge, who decides that a “conviction would have particularly negative and disproportionate consequences for him, when he could hardly travel outside the country, which could possibly hamper his career as an engineer”. However, he has not had to travel for his job until now.
To refuse to order that he be discharged would amount to saying that a discharge is never possible in the presence of an offense of sexual assault, concludes Judge Poliquin.