Former lawyer Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant was found guilty of voyeurism and production of child pornography Thursday at the Montreal courthouse. The former hockey coach had hidden a spy camera in the bathroom to film without their knowledge three teenagers he had invited to a chalet.
Posted at 3:34 p.m.
While his trial was to continue on Thursday, Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant decided instead to admit the facts in this case, which led Judge Érick Vanchestein to find him guilty of two counts. The voyeur now faces a minimum prison sentence of one year, the constitutionality of which he intends to challenge.
The 29-year-old Montrealer gets away with it, however, since he initially faced 38 counts of voyeurism, possession and production of child pornography and sexual contact with two 14-year-old children. He was accused of filming around 20 teenagers without their knowledge in 2017 and 2018, when he was a high school hockey coach in Roxboro.
However, almost all the counts fell when Judge Vanchestein, last November, excluded the evidence seized from his electronic devices, as well as his statement to the police, because of an infringement of his constitutional rights. Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant was deprived of the right to contact a lawyer without delay by having to wait for 42 minutes for a tow truck following his arrest. An “unjustifiable” delay, according to the judge.
Events in a chalet
There therefore remained only three counts related to the events that occurred in a chalet in Orford in August 2018. It is therefore for two of these counts that he admitted his responsibility.
Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant had invited a couple and their three boys aged 11, 13 and 17 to his family chalet. The voyeur had known this family for a few years, since he had been the hockey coach of the eldest in the west of Montreal.
To film the genitals of adolescents, Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant had installed a clock radio equipped with a spy camera in the upstairs bathroom. The camera was even lifted by toilet paper to be at the perfect height to film the genitals of a person standing in front of the toilet. The criminal also told the children that the toilet in the basement was broken.
The strange location of this clock radio in the bathroom aroused the suspicions of the mother, especially since Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant went to the small corner each time one of the family members came there. to go. The voyeur also took care to replace the clock radio in the direction of the toilet when an object obstructed the view.
Concerned, the mother discovers that such a model of spy camera is on sale on Amazon for around thirty dollars. The father then seizes the clock radio to prevent his family from being filmed again. An argument breaks out between the father and Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant, prompting the parents to contact 911.
SCREENSHOT FROM AMAZON.CA
The clock radio found by Samuel Beaugé-Malenfant’s guests looked like this one, with night vision, motion detector and viewing screen.
The police found 34 videos in the hidden camera, 6 of which constitute child pornography. On the other videos, we can notably see the voyeur adjusting the camera and testing the viewing angle.
Mand Amélie Rivard represents the public ministry, while Ms.and Maxime Chevalier defends the accused. The case will be back in court next June for sentencing submissions.