On August 18, a former psychoeducator in Montreal was sentenced to a very heavy 18-year prison sentence for buying an 8-year-old girl in Africa in order to sexually exploit her.
Sylvain Villemaire made the girl his sex slave for
three years, from 2015 to 2018. The sentence imposed by Judge Pierre Labelle is
a record sentence in Quebec for sexual crimes against minors.
The racist pedophile is not allowed to come into
contact with the victim, and cannot use the internet or any other digital
network recreationally for 25 years.
Since the child rapist has been detained since May
2018, he has just over 13 years in prison to serve.
In February, the 60-year-old racist/white supremacist
was convicted of distributing child pornography and trafficking minors. At the
start of his trial in September 2020, the child molester pleaded guilty to
several counts of crimes of sexual nature, including possession of child
pornography, sexual contact and invitation to sexual contact with a child.
Crown prosecutor Amélie Rivard presented a request for
the pedophile to be recognized as a dangerous offender. This request will be
heard on October 12th. Rivard declined to comment on the sentence imposed on
Thursday because the case is not yet closed.
The girl had to be “M. Sylvain’s wife”. The pedophile
had made her sign a “contract” in which she agreed that he could do “whatever
he wants, how he wants and when he wants” to her. The victim was assaulted
three or four times a week. An adult woman invited by the pedophile
participated in an instance of sexual assault.
When the girl did not submit to rapist's abuse, he
threatened to “bring” her back to her country of origin. The culprit brought
his victim from Africa to Canada using a student visa. This would be the first
such case in Canada involving the trafficking of minors abroad.
The white terrorist used his victim, uprooted and
without landmarks, as an object. The girl, now 14, has said she wants to leave
this story behind.
“It is clear that she begins her life with a very
heavy burden, a burden that has been placed on her shoulders only by the actions
of the offender. Once again, I don’t mean to be alarmist or particularly
pessimistic, but the future of this young woman appears to be heavily
jeopardized. I wish her courage,” said Justice Labelle at the Montreal
courthouse.
It was during a police search of Villemaire’s home
that the girl was freed. The officers had discovered that he was distributing
material of child pornography on the web. In the end, the racist had 8,000
photos and 95 videos of pornography depicting minors.
“Inability to empathize”
Villemaire is unaware of the gravity of his actions,
according to the court. “He is bold in saying that since he had a relationship
of trust with her, the actions and the consequences are much less serious. This
shows an inability to be introspective and empathize, if not a cognitive
distortion,” said the judge.
The pedophile also said he wanted to reconnect with
his victim, a statement that Justice Labelle interpreted as “a desire to regain
control over the latter”.
Justice Labelle believes that the offender’s risk of
reoffending is higher because he does not recognize the seriousness of his
actions and wants to reconnect with the one he assaulted.
Villemaire worked for nearly 15 years at
Calixa-Lavallée high school, located in the Montreal-Nord borough.
A publication ban protects the identity of the victim
and certain details of the case.
An “exemplary” sentence
Since the beginning of the #MeToo movement, the eyes
of the population have been focused on the legal system, says Sophie Gagnon,
general manager of the Juripop legal clinic. Victims have been disappointed
with sexual assault acquittals in high-profile cases.
“Exemplary convictions and sentences show that the
justice system can make people who have committed sexual crimes accountable for
their actions,” said Gagnon in reaction to the sentence received by Villemaire.
“We see it in the case of sexual crimes against
minors, there is a desire to send a clear message that society condemns these
acts. I think that it is in this spirit that the sentence has been pronounced,”
adds Gagnon.
However, “it will take much more than a sentence, as
exemplary as it is, to reestablish this broken bond of trust in the justice
system,” says Roxane Ocampo, communications manager of organization grouping
sexual assault help centres in Quebec.