For eight years, Laurence Gratton was cyberstalked and threatened with death by a man she knew. His ordeal could well end two years after filing a complaint: his alleged attacker was arrested last week at his home in Terrebonne.
“I was so relieved when I heard he had been arrested. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend the holidays peacefully with my family,” says 24 hours the primary school teacher.
The man who has allegedly harassed her since 2015 is said to be a former classmate from the University of Montreal, Éric Boisvert.
On the morning of December 11, the 49-year-old man was arrested at his home in Terrebonne. He is accused of death threats and criminal harassment, confirms the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP). As of Tuesday, he was still provisionally detained after his appearance on the day of his arrest.
Laurence Gratton wonders today if her ordeal will end, two years after filing a complaint with the Terrebonne police.
A publicized story
After a few years of respite, cyberbullying started again in 2022, around the same time she participated in the documentary I salute you bitch by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist. The film exposes his story and those of his classmates.
Then, last October, the day before Halloween, Laurence Gratton again received death threats. But this time, it was her child who was targeted.
“He knew my daughter’s name and where I live. I felt super anxious. I didn’t sleep all night that evening,” recalls the mother.
“I called 911 that same evening,” she continues. I knew I was spending Halloween the next day in the neighborhood. No parent wants to leave the house with their child and be afraid of getting hit.”
For Laurence Gratton, there was only one possible outcome: “that this man be arrested and that he pay for his actions”.
“Even though he has no intention of taking action, I live in fear every day. It’s as if I was condemned to receiving death threats for the rest of my life,” she laments.
“The Terrebonne police continued the work they had already put in place, but I have the impression that they used a wider range of strategies in the last month to obtain enough evidence to arrest him” , underlines Laurence Gratton.
According to her, the media coverage of her story helped the investigation move forward.
“There will remain the judicial process. The pronouncement of the sentence still remains a big part, she adds. But we have already taken a big step forward.”
• Also read: Coach Racicot claims to have changed and denounces Andrew Tate
Messages since 2015
Laurence Gratton started receiving hateful messages in 2015, along with other teaching students at the University of Montreal.
“In my cohort, I know around thirty women who have been harassed,” she says.
These threats were made from an “astronomical number” of fake accounts and emails, says Ms. Gratton.
“At the beginning, it was more physical insults,” she explains. He wrote me messages about things I said in class, about clothes I wore. Girls were receiving very sexual and perverse messages until the violence started to escalate.”
Archive photo, QMI Agency
Éric Boisvert was reportedly sentenced to 18 months of probation in 2019 after pleading guilty to death threats and harassment. He would have received an unconditional absolution from the judge, according to a column by Patrick Lagacé published in La Presse last year.
Before his trial, the man violated his release conditions twice, according to court documents seen by 24 hours.
Since 2022, Laurence Gratton has been convinced that the messages and threats come from this same alleged attacker. It seemed that his arrest would nevertheless be impossible.
• Also read: Denounce antifeminism to fight violence against women
Lack of resources despite the increase
Online harassment constitutes a long and complex crime to prove, according to experts consulted by 24 hours.
“In the case of cyberharassment, we must not only prove that the same person communicates continuously with another, but we must also recover all of the communications, their origin, in addition to being able to establish who is hiding behind the keyboard. These are additional actions that can take time,” explains Lieutenant Benoit Richard of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
“Cybercrime investigations are longer and more complex. They can take up to five or six years to complete. And it costs a lot of money to carry out,” explains cybercrime expert Steve Waterhouse.
However, these crimes are on the rise throughout the province.
In Montreal alone, the number of complaints requiring investigations on the web has jumped in recent years. Between 2021 and 2023, the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) observed an increase of 37%, reports the Quebecor Investigation Bureau.
At the SQ, there are around sixty investigators specializing in cybercrime.
In Terrebonne, no police officer is dedicated to this type of crime.
“We must give more human, financial and material resources to police forces,” argues Mr. Waterhouse. They have difficulty developing evidence against a bad guy hiding behind a VPN.”
The police should not take this type of case lightly either, according to professor in the didactics department of UQAM and expert in cyberbullying prevention, Stéphane Villeneuve.
“When you are told by a police force that the officers cannot do anything, it has serious psychological consequences for the victim. We really need to consider cyberbullying as a serious psychological threat. It destroys lives,” he insists.
