A former hockey coach and ex-lawyer who concealed a spy camera to film three teenagers has been sentenced to one year in prison, even though he poses an above-average risk of recidivism and his situation remains ” disturbing”. The Crown was asking for a 30-month prison sentence for Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant.
“The acts of the accused were planned and required a significant degree of sophistication. The accused acted in all conscience by abusing the trust and friendship of all the members of this victim family who are still very shaken by this event that they should never have experienced, “said Judge Érick Vanchestein Thursday at the Montreal courthouse.
Four years after the events, the wounds are still alive for the family trapped by Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant. “I was 16 years old. I trusted him. He betrayed us. We live in a cruel world and people like Sam are one of the reasons for that,” the eldest son told the court.
Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant, 29, had been practicing as a lawyer for two years at the time of the events in 2018. He had been invited to the chalet of a couple he knew for having been the hockey coach of their eldest son in the West of Montreal. The couple had three teenagers.
The voyeur took the opportunity to install a clock radio with a spy camera in the upstairs bathroom, which allowed him to film the boys’ genitals. The device was even lifted by toilet paper to be the perfect height in front of the toilet. He would tell the kids that the basement toilet was broken to lure them into his trap.
The parents finally discovered the subterfuge by noticing the strange location of the clock radio in the bathroom and by noting the suspicious behavior of Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant.
The police found 34 videos in the hidden camera, 6 of which constitute child pornography. He was thus found guilty of producing child pornography and voyeurism.
Initially, Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant was also accused of having filmed around twenty teenagers without their knowledge in 2017 and 2018, when he was a hockey coach in high schools in Roxboro. He was also accused of sexual interference with two 14-year-old children. However, nearly all of the counts fell due to the exclusion of significant portions of the evidence due to an infringement of his constitutional rights.
The defense challenged the constitutionality of the one-year minimum sentence and asked for a lenient sentence of 90 days in prison to be served on weekends or 12 months in house arrest.
The judge noted the many aggravating factors in the case to sentence him to one year in prison, citing the sophistication of the crime, the consequences for the victims and the risk of recidivism.
The judge mentions that the accused’s situation remains “worrying”, since he has been diagnosed with voyeurism. An expert concludes that Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant has a deviant sexual preference towards adolescents at the start of puberty.
Me Amélie Rivard represents the public ministry, while Ms.e Maxime Chevalier defends the accused. The case is also on appeal.