A former Alouettes player who was a substitute at a high school in Estrie was found guilty of trying to sleep with one of his 15-year-old students by sending her suggestive text messages at the end of the school year.
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“Contacts between them are not between equal people. One takes advantage of his status as a teacher and incidentally as a local star to approach a 15-year-old girl, who otherwise would never have entered into communication with him,” ruled judge Serge Champoux.
Christophe Normand, 32, was found guilty of luring a minor and inciting sexual contact this afternoon at the Granby courthouse.
Christophe Normand during his trial last February, at the Granby courthouse.
Photo Camille Payant
In 2022, during the off-season with the Alouettes, the football player was a substitute at a high school in Waterloo. He taught an ethics and religious culture course to fourth-year secondary school classes.
To sleep with her
At the end of the school year, he sent one of his students a friend request on Facebook, which she initially declined. Then, the teenager finally accepted his second request.
“Initially, the conversations are rather neutral […]. The communications come from him. However, the tone changes to address more personal or even intimate subjects, such as knowing if she was seeing someone or even what she might think of older men,” the magistrate said.
Normand notably wrote to her that she had “a beautiful shape, that gives me even more taste…” and that he hoped to meet her at a festival in Montreal “to see her in a bikini”, we were told. learned during the trial.
For his part, the 32-year-old man did not deny having communicated with the teenager, twice his age, with the aim of having sexual activities. However, he assured that he honestly believed that she was 16, the age of consent.
Red flag
Judge Champoux, however, did not accept the testimony of the accused “since several elements were problematic”. Thus according to the magistrate, the footballer never asked the young girl’s age as he claimed. But above all, he was in a position of authority over her, which makes it a criminal act even if she was indeed 16 years old.
Christophe Normand with the Montreal Alouettes, in 2019.
Photo courtesy, Dominick Gravel (Montreal Alouettes)
However, at the time of the denunciation to the Sûreté du Québec, Normand told her of his wish to meet her in a hotel in Montreal after an Alouettes game to have sexual relations with her.
He even admitted during his trial to having very quickly consulted the Éducaloi site before sending his friendship requests to the teenager, which should have been a red flag, according to the judge.
“That a person feels the need to consult the law before pursuing a relationship, perhaps this is a sufficient sign to avoid this relationship,” said Judge Champoux.
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