Penelope* plays dead. She stops breathing in the hope that the man will stop. In vain. His tormentor continues to attack him. “You’re a good girl,” he told her, before going to get a belt to strangle her. Penelope’s nightmare is still far from over.
Published at 12:46 a.m.
Updated at 7:00 a.m.
Lucas Pasquariello, an extremely violent sexual assaulter, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault and stalking. The 25-year-old Montrealer – still at large – will return to court next January for sentencing observations.
To protect the victim’s identity, we are omitting certain elements from the file.
Penelope meets Lucas Pasquariello on the app Tinder. They begin to see each other occasionally. Lucas Pasquariello is a man with “violent and impulsive reflexes”, according to the summary of facts filed in court. The slaps quickly turn into punches.
Once, Penelope wants to have protected sex with the accused. However, he begins sexual relations without wearing a condom, despite her repeated requests.
Lucas Pasquariello tells Penelope that he wants to start a BDSM relationship (bondage, domination, submission, sadomasochism). But no security word (one safewordwhich we pronounce to signal to the other that we want to stop the session) is not established.
Hell’s night
Then, one hell of a night: Lucas Pasquariello shouts and insults Penelope all evening. He consumed a lot of alcohol. He threatens to “smash her face in” and “break her nose.” Penelope refuses to sleep with him. She repeats it several times. “I don’t know how to take that,” replies the accused.
Lucas Pasquariello begins to touch the victim. She falls into a hyperventilation attack. She cries continuously. That doesn’t stop the attacker from penetrating her without a condom. Penelope plays dead. Her tormentor hits her in the face, then strangles her with a belt.
The horror continues. “Come on, [Pénélope]play, play, play! », he shouts at her, giving her an arm lock during the attack.
Penelope is afraid of being killed. Very scared. So she obeys.
But at a certain point, Penelope utters a “ safeword » in the hope that the man will stop. It stops for a moment, but starts again immediately.
“There is no safeword. It’s more of a game. You are my object. I do what I want with you,” he said.
In the early morning, Lucas Pasquariello sexually assaults Penelope again. “I’ll come inside you and you’ll take Plan B,” he said. (The term “Plan B” refers to an emergency contraception pill that can be taken after sex that poses a risk of unplanned pregnancy.)
Then the man threatens Penelope: “If you dare say that I hurt you tonight, I will say that you are the aggressor, that it is you who took me by the neck and followed me. People will say: poor me! »
File a complaint
Pénélope confides in a friend the same day. She encouraged her to file a complaint, which she did.
The next morning, Lucas Pasquariello is in front of her house. Pénélope dials 911. The police intercept the man a few minutes later in the neighborhood. He then does karate moves while talking to himself.
Released, Lucas Pasquariello starts talking about Pénélope on social networks. He even publishes a photo of Pénélope, on which it is written @diediedie.
Me Marilou Bernard represents the public prosecutor, while Me Andrew Galliano defends the offender.
* Fictitious name
