An educator from Mont d’Youville admits sexual abuse of a young teenager

A former educator at the Mont d’Youville orphanage, now aged 79, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to an offense of indecent assault for gestures of a sexual nature towards a young boy which stretched over a period of 3 years in the mid-1970s.

• Also read: Sexual abuse at Mont d’Youville: 3 educators accused, other cases under study

The trial of John Anthony O’Reilly was to open Tuesday morning at the Quebec courthouse, but the former educator and manager of Mont d’Youville instead chose to plead guilty.

The Crown prosecutor on file, Mr.^e Michel Bérubé, told the court that discussions had taken place throughout this case which had been ongoing since June 2023 and that an agreement had been reached the day before the trial opened.

A joint suggestion for the imposition of a three-year penitentiary sentence was also announced, but will only be argued in February. “The accused must undergo operations, that is part of the discussions we had with the defense,” explained Me Bérubé.

The septuagenarian had already been sentenced to two years in prison in 2010 for physical and sexual abuse of five other teenagers during their stay at Mont d’Youville.

Vile acts

O’Reilly admitted all of the actions he committed against his victim, who was between 10 and 12 years old at the time of the incident.

Sitting in the room, the man now in his sixties shed a few tears as he heard the old man who turned his life upside down say the word he had been waiting for for so many years.

“Guilty” John Anthony O’Reilly almost whispered after Judge Josée Lemieux read to him the charge of indecent assault against him.

“Today I’m crying, I’m still bleeding, it’s not over. But I feel a calm. […] I haven’t had it easy my whole life, I just hope it ends well. Now I’ll be able to work on that” – John Anthony O’Reilly’s victim

Then, the victim firmly held the hand of a relative who came to support him when the prosecutor summarized the despicable acts committed by the one who was supposed to take care of and support the children under his responsibility.

“On different occasions, without being able to quantify them, the accused came to pick up the victim in the evening, sat on him, kissed him on the mouth while touching his body, buttocks, penis,” related M^e Bérubé, specifying that “masturbation sessions” had also taken place.

The facts took place in two stages, the crown said, explaining that the young teenager had left Mont d’Youville for a certain time “before being brought back” because of his behavioral problems.

“He was a child who ran away for reasons that appear obvious to us today,” underlined the prosecutor.

It might as well be said that the child had been brought back into the den of the wolf.

Broken life

The identity of this victim is protected by a publication ban, but the man wanted to speak to the media to explain that his fight was not over.

He is a complainant, with another person, in the case of a second Mont d’Youville educator who must stand trial, Reynald Hamel. A third, Michel Leblanc, is also accused in connection with actions committed at the orphanage.

All these procedures are obviously arduous for a broken person like he was, but despite everything, he invites other people who have suffered attacks to take back the voice that was stolen from them by filing a complaint.

“Don’t do what I did, don’t wait 50 years because I didn’t have a childhood or a life,” he confided, emphasizing the support of prosecutors, investigators and people from the CAVAC.

“Go see the investigation teams, they are waiting for you.”

A settlement was ratified last July in the class action file against Mont d’Youville, condemning the Sisters of Charity and the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale to pay $65M to the victims of the establishment.