Two former Quebec junior hockey players will appeal their prison sentences for sexually assaulting a minor in a hotel in June 2021 during a celebration of a Victoriaville Tigres championship victory.
On Monday, Judge Thomas Jacques of the Court of Quebec sentenced Nicolas Daigle to 32 months in prison and Massimo Siciliano to 30 months in prison.
A lawyer for Siciliano, 21, has filed a request that his client be given a suspended sentence and released on bail pending a decision.
A lawyer for Daigle, 21, says he has filed a similar appeal on behalf of his client.
Both appeals are expected to be heard before the province’s highest court on Thursday in Quebec City.
At the time of the assault, the two men were members of the Victoriaville team in the Maritimes Quebec Junior Hockey League, and the club was celebrating June 5, 2021 after winning the President’s Cup.
The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was an employee at the Quebec City-area hotel where the team was staying during the 2021 playoffs. She had befriended Daigle while he and his teammates were staying at the hotel for about a month before their victory.
She had initially declined an invitation from the team members to join their group. Citing hotel policy, she had also initially said no to Daigle’s request to join him in his room. But later that night, after she had left work, Daigle messaged her again and convinced her to return to the hotel.
The victim agreed to go to the room only with Daigle, but when she arrived, she discovered that Siciliano, whom she did not know, was also there. She said she felt trapped before being assaulted by both men, sometimes simultaneously, for about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, Daigle filmed the woman without her knowledge.
Both men pleaded guilty in October ahead of their trial.