A former returning officer who justified his sexual abuse of a young teenager by placing all the blame on him did not ultimately obtain leniency from the court, instead receiving four years in prison.
“The idea that the victim was consenting is a decoy. Children under the age of 16 are incapable of giving true consent to sexual relations with adults, this must be strongly emphasized,” declared Judge Martin Chalifour, this Thursday, at the Montreal courthouse.
And just after, he refused home prison to Claude Hamelin, instead sending him into the shadows for his crimes committed in 2020, from the start of the pandemic.
Hamelin, 54, was a returning officer for Élections Québec, but he had to stop working because he is immunosuppressed. And as he spent a lot of time at home, he started inviting a 14-year-old boy, whom he knew through his parents, to his house.
Caught in flagrante delicto
Except that he quickly began to sexually assault the 14-year-old, whether over clothes or when the teen was playing video games. In a few months, there were a dozen sexual contacts, until he was caught in the act.
“The actions stopped not because he realized that his conduct was reprehensible, but because he was denounced,” noted the magistrate.
Criminally accused, Hamelin cut short the legal process by pleading guilty to sexual contact. He was hoping to get away with home confinement, but his tendency to blame the victim didn’t tip the scales in his favor.
“Mr. Hamelin explains that the victim was a “manipulator” and that he had difficulty saying no, a psychiatric report indicates. He considers that the victim was consenting and that it was she who initiated the sexual contact.”
No clemency
During psychotherapy, Hamelin then admitted that he was responsible for his crimes, while affirming that they had been committed “during a period when access to adult partners was limited by the context of the health crisis” .
But even if the risk of recidivism is considered “low”, there was no question for the judge that Hamelin would avoid prison, as suggested by Mr.e Mike Jr Boudreau of defense.
The magistrate thus ruled in favour of Mr.e Charles Doucet of the Crown, who called for firm incarceration, given the importance of protecting minors from all forms of sexual abuse.
Hamelin was sentenced to four years in prison. And once free, he was banned from any employment that would put him in contact with minors for a period of five years.
As for his employment at Élections Québec, it was announced to the court that he had since been dismissed.
