Véronie Campeau, a special education teacher from Montreal who took advantage of the vulnerability of a teenage student in difficulty to maintain a kind of “couple relationship” with her, received three years in penitentiary.
Wednesday morning, the 42-year-old woman headed directly to detention from the Montreal courthouse where Judge Anne-Marie Lanctôt of the Court of Quebec delivered her decision on the sentence.
The school educator pleaded guilty last March to charges of sexual interference, incitement to sexual touching, as well as sexual exploitation, all related to a student she was supposed to help. The victim, who cannot be identified by court order, was only 13 years old when Véronie Campeau kissed her for the first time.
The criminal acts were committed over a long period, from 2011 to 2014, when the victim was between 13 and 16 years old.
The Crown had requested four years of detention while the defense estimated that two years would be a sufficient sentence. Judge Lanctôt cut the pear in two.
Lost childhood
This sentence is justified in light of the seriousness of the sexual acts committed “recklessly” on a vulnerable teenager, who had come to seek help in her office at the secondary school because she was experiencing difficulties at home.
Véronie Campeau, who was in a position of authority over the teenager, transformed the helping relationship into a privileged relationship, then into an intimate relationship, said the judge while rendering her decision orally in the court room: “she poses on the shoulders of the victim a role of spouse and sexual partner. »
She still lives with emotional damage, underlined the magistrate. She lost her childhood, like her innocence, she continues.
The magistrate attacks the victim’s relatives in passing: it is distressing that the family knew what was happening. Several could have intervened, but no one did anything, she laments.
It took a while for the young woman to file a police report, but eventually she did. Judge Lanctôt took the opportunity to issue this warning: “The passage of time does not protect delinquents. One day or another they will have to answer for their actions. The secrecy surrounding the illegal actions ends up being exposed, and the past ends up catching up with them. »
If the situation contains numerous “aggravating factors” – the young age and vulnerability of the victim and the long period during which the criminal acts were committed – the judge also notes mitigating circumstances. Véronie Campeau expresses remorse and accepts her responsibility, she noted. She has already undertaken more than 40 psychological follow-up appointments: “her rehabilitation is clearly underway” and the risk of reoffending is very low, it is noted in the pre-sentence report. The ex-educator also pleaded guilty, sparing the victim from having to testify at trial.
In addition to the prison sentence, Véronie Campeau will have to be registered on the sex offender register for 20 years.