Flight abroad | Two pedophiles escape before receiving their sentence

A father who abused his three daughters. A man who sexually assaulted a little girl at a daycare. In quick succession, these pedophiles recently fled outside the country before receiving their sentence. These raids expose the shortcomings in terms of release and confiscation of passports.

End of March 2024. Hocine Attoui seems very indifferent in the courtroom. However, he has just been found guilty. His crimes are very serious: he forced a 4-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him in his wife’s daycare. He risks prison.

The same evening, the 66-year-old Montrealer took off. He flies to Paris.

However, he was prohibited from leaving the province, according to his release conditions.

Hocine Attoui is now in Algeria, according to one of his sons, the Crown says. “Mr. Attoui’s letter is very obvious. Monsieur is obviously evading,” summarized the prosecutor, Mr.^e Jérôme Laflamme, during a hearing in mid-September, at the Montreal courthouse.

In the circumstances, the Crown wishes to continue the legal process in the absence of the offender. “Society cannot afford to let this type of offense go unpunished considering the context of evasion,” argues the Crown in a motion. This will be heard next December.

A jump to the United States, then head to Mexico

A strangely similar scenario occurred this fall at the Montreal courthouse.

Miguel*, a 64-year-old Montrealer, was convicted last May of sexually assaulting his three daughters in the 1990s. He touched their genitals when they were in bed. We cannot identify the incestuous father to protect the identity of his daughters.

One of the victims said she was “terrorized” by her father, whom she described as a “dictator”. When she started to resist him, he started threatening her: he was going to cut out her tongue.

When judge Anne-Marie Manoukian found him guilty, prosecutor M^e Jérôme Laflamme requested his immediate incarceration. The judge instead released the offender, as is the norm, when the accused strictly respects his release conditions.

Miguel fled Canada in the following weeks. According to police, he arrived at the Los Angeles airport in mid-August to go to his sister’s house. He then went to hide in his house in Mexico, according to a relative. Arriving in Canada in the 1990s, Miguel is of Salvadoran origin.

How did Miguel manage to leave the country, when his passport had been confiscated as part of his release conditions? A police report indicates that his last trip dates back to last February, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

“He managed to leave [le pays] nevertheless, declared to the Court M^e Laflamme, early October. I always say: “Depositing the passport is not a guarantee. We can always go to the passport office and have it declared stolen.” I understand that the Passport Office should do, or does, check, but the procedure is not perfectly watertight. »

Judge Manoukian concluded, on October 7, that Miguel had “sneaked away” and that it was therefore necessary to impose his sentence in his absence.

The Crown is seeking a sentence of 16 years in prison.

“Steps are continuing to find him,” said M.^e Laflamme. Even if he is found, it is far from certain that he could then be extradited to Canada.

The passport question

In both cases, the accused had dual nationality. Did they use their passport (which was not Canadian) to escape? We ignore it for the moment. But be aware that it may be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent an offender who holds another nationality from obtaining a new passport.

In a case of clandestine abortion, last spring, at the Montreal courthouse, a detective sergeant argued that the accused, a Congolese of origin, would be able to request new documents from his consulate, even if the Court seized his current passport.

“There is nothing to show that he would not leave Canada if he decided to do so and that he would not be able to do so,” concluded Judge Marie Kettlyne Ruben, ordering the detention of the accused. throughout the legal process, particularly due to the risk of absconding.

Can an accused who has had his passport seized easily obtain a new Canadian passport by declaring it stolen?

The response from Citizenship and Immigration is not very enlightening. By email, we are told that the organization can undertake an “investigation” if there are “grounds for refusal of issuance or revocation” after reviewing the information.

If an offender cannot leave the country, the police force must register him in the Canadian Police Information Centre. This way, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) can know if a person is subject to a Tribunal order.

“It is up to the police of the jurisdiction to inform us of this type of order,” summarizes Guillaume Bérubé, spokesperson for the Agency.

At the Sûreté du Québec, we always indicate that we feed the Canadian Police Information Center with relevant information.

At the Montreal City Police Service (the police force responsible for the two pedophiles on the run), it is explained that the investigator must contact Passport Canada or the CBSA when a judge requests the seizure of a passport or prohibits an accused from leaving the country.

* Fictitious first name, to preserve the anonymity of the victims