“No one deserves to be harassed and disfigured. To be afraid of losing your face,” whispers Cassandra*. This Montrealer, like four other women, experienced horror at the hands of an extremely violent sexual predator. The young foreign student was sentenced Monday to three years in detention and will be deported from Canada.
“It’s one of women’s worst nightmares to be attacked like this. Mr. came to Canada for a better life here and ultimately he acts as a predator,” argued Crown prosecutor M.e Annabelle Sheppard presenting the joint sentence suggestion at the Montreal courthouse.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Me Annabelle Sheppard, Crown Prosecutor
The predator, El Mehdi Badi, is a 21-year-old Moroccan who came to study design in Quebec last year.
One night in April, the prowler attacked no fewer than five women in the streets of downtown Montreal between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. alone. It hid in the shadows and pounced on its prey. He pleaded guilty to several charges last December.
That night, El Mehdi Badi was rejected by several women he was trying to flirt with. So he wanted to “let off some steam” after being kicked out of a bar at the end of the evening. His first prey are two employees of this bar. While attacking Fanny*, the assailant bites her very hard on the face, one of his sordid modus operandi. His friend then managed to push him away by inserting her fingers in his eyes.
Fanny* was “deeply affected” by this attack. In a letter read to the court by the prosecutor, the victim highlights how traumatic this was for her. It evokes profound psychological consequences and persistent fear.
Four other victims
A few minutes later, the predator attacks another woman a few streets away. When the woman pushes away the insistent stranger, the latter responds by punching her several times in the face. He then does a neck hold (chokehold) to his victim and pulls her towards an alley. The woman, however, managed to escape.
El Mehdi Badi has time to attack two other women before attacking Cassandra, his last victim. The attack is particularly violent. “You like that, you’re looking for that,” El Mehdi Badi says to her when she tries to push him away. The woman suffered two concussions. She thought she would die at that moment.
“I was disfigured because he tried to tear my lip off with his teeth,” says Cassandra, on the witness stand, staring at her tormentor in the box. Impassive, the young man stared at the ground in silence.
Since this “very traumatic” event, Cassandra is no longer the same. “There is the Cassandra before and the one after,” she sums up. For several months, she has confided that she is “afraid of dying” when she meets a stranger in the street.
Cassandra concluded her testimony by praising the work of the police and the judicial system.
Disturbing profile
El Mehdi Badi presents a very disturbing profile. His risk of reoffending is reportedly above average.
We are talking about violent sexual assault, of five victims in one sequence. […] This is very worrying.
Me Annabelle Sheppard, Crown Prosecutor
However, the young age of the accused and his admission of guilt are among the mitigating factors.
Judge André Perreault endorsed the lawyers’ joint suggestion and thus imposed a 39-month prison sentence on the young Moroccan, of which he has two years left to serve, since he has been detained since his arrest.
As he was in Canada under a study permit, El Mehdi Badi will most likely be expelled from the country as soon as his sentence ends, since he will be subject to an expulsion order without appeal. The immigration services will then impose a lifetime stay ban on him in the country.
Judge Perreault wanted to highlight the courage of the victims at the end of the hearing. “I’m particularly impressed,” he said.
*Fictitious first names to protect their identity