A well known Montreal celebrity began to serve jail time yesterday for sexually expoliting two young children. He arrived in court with his bodyguards and police. A small crowd was on hand, mostly against his actions, and because of the light sentence, some thought it was better than nothing. Others figure he should have gotten at least five years.
Surprisingly, one elderly lady said the celebrity had gone through enough negative press coverage and there was no need for any jail time!
In Quebec, a sentence 42 months jail time can be only 14 months! In the meantime he gave a death sentence to two young children, go figure.
Just sharing some news.
Guest77
Known Montreal Celebrity Sex Offender Gets 42 Months!
by Golf 4 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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Golf
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minimus
So who was the convicted person?
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blondie
http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=1aaf1179-de77-4e11-9385-dcee5d4c1ad1 Cloutier pays price: jailed 31/2 years Impresario won't appeal Payoffs to sex-assault victim no sign of compassion: judge
SIDHARTHA BANERJEE The Gazette Tuesday, December 21, 2004
CREDIT: MARCOS TOWNSEND, THE GAZETTE The overflow crowd waits outside Courtroom No. 3.05 for news of the sentencing of Quebec entertainment mogul Guy Cloutier yesterday. Prison was the one thing the so-called king of Quebec showbiz feared the most, but it's where a judge decided yesterday that disgraced entertainment mogul Guy Cloutier belongs.
With his head buried in his hands, a devastated Cloutier, 64, contemplated the possibility he'll spend much of the next 42 months in a federal penitentiary as Quebec Court Judge Robert Sansfacon sentenced him for sexually assaulting two minors.
Cloutier's lawyer, Sophie Bourque, emerged from the courtroom after the sentence was handed down and said there will be no appeal, that Cloutier's instructions from the beginning had been that the victims' suffering be limited.
"The sentence handed down by Judge Sansfacon is a severe one given in difficult circumstances," Bourque told reporters. "The instructions from Mr. Cloutier are not to appeal the sentence."
While the identity of the first victim, a girl, is protected by a publication ban, the identity of the second remained shrouded in mystery yesterday. Even the sex of the second child is a secret. All that was revealed publicly is that the abuse - fellatio, masturbation and touching - took place when the person was between the ages of 12 and 17.
Cloutier pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to four charges involving the first victim, now 35, when she was between 11 and 18 years old. The fifth charge concerns the mystery victim, who has apparently forgiven Cloutier.
Sansfacon handed down sentences ranging between six and 26 months for the charges involving the girl and another 16 months for the assault on the mystery victim for a total of 31/2 years behind bars.
Cloutier's DNA is to be added to the sex offender registry, where it will stay for 20 years.
The judge took aggravating factors into consideration - that there were two young victims while Cloutier was in a position of trust and authority, that the assaults were serious and took place frequently, over a long time.
Sansfacon said while Cloutier was not likely to reoffend, the money he gave to the victim did not indicate empathy and compassion even if there was some remorse.
"The judge said loud and clear that we live in a society that will never accept this type of behaviour," crown prosecutor Josee Grandchamps said. "He handed down a prison sentence that satisfies the prosecution."
Cloutier was sent to the Riviere des Prairies detention centre yesterday and will be transferred to a federal processsing facility, possibly the one in Ste. Anne des Plaines, before he is sent to a penitentiary.
Depending on the programs he follows and his behaviour behind bars, Cloutier may be eligible for parole after one-third of his sentence is served in early 2006.
Cloutier, dressed all in black, embraced his lawyer as he walked into the packed courtroom. He kept his arms neatly folded sitting in the prisoners box as Sansfacon read the 36- page judgment.
Cloutier entered the Montreal courthouse just after 9:20 a.m., surrounded by court constables and a private security detail, but without any members of his immediate family present.
Sansfacon said in his judgment that Cloutier is partly to blame that 17 years had elapsed since the assaults took place.
The judge also dismissed the media frenzy caused by the case; it shouldn't have any bearing on the sentence, he said.
Any public person risks media scrutiny if he commits a crime, Sansfacon wrote, "and when the nature and gravity of the crimes are serious as they are in this case, it becomes somewhat normal the it would attract the interest and attention of the media."
Eight days before he was arrested on March 25, Cloutier begged the woman he has admitted to raping as a child not to go to the police and offered her $300,000 for her silence.
"This is the biggest mistake of my life. It's bad, bad, bad," he told her, admitting he was afraid of going to jail.
"I'm 64 years old. I don't have that much longer left to live."
What Cloutier didn't know was the woman had already contacted provincial police and they had persuaded her to wear a wire and lure him to her house.
The recorded conversation, in which Cloutier admitted everything and begged the woman for mercy, made up a large part of the prosecution's case.
Cloutier's dirty secret began to haunt him when the woman told her brother about the abuse in 2002. The next day, the brother marched into Cloutier's office and demanded a salary for her - $5,000 a month. Cloutier also took out a personal loan to buy her a $450,000 dream home.
But it all came crashing down when the victim realized in therapy sessions that she needed justice and went to police.
Cloutier showered the woman with $1 million in cash and gifts over the past few years in what the prosecution said was an attempt to buy her silence. The defence argued it was his way of trying to make reparations.
Cloutier apologized to the victims after pleading guilty in November.
"I profoundly regret all the harm that I have done," Cloutier said. "I acknowledge my crimes. I pleaded guilty and, as you know, my fate is in the hands of the judge. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart."
Cloutier, a self-made millionaire, went from peddling vinyl records in his native Alma in the 1960s to producing some of French television's greatest hits and promoting some Quebec pop bands and singers. He also sang, cutting a French-language version of the Richie Valens song Donna that topped the Quebec charts.
More recently, Cloutier was the producer of Loft Story, the reality show broadcast on TQS, which was launched last year with a $6-million budget.
Under his tutelage, daughter Veronique, 29, became a household name in Quebec by hosting the Radio-Canada variety show La Fureur. His other daughter, Stephanie, is the longtime girlfriend of Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore.
Cloutier was the founder of Guy Cloutier Communications Inc., a company he built from the ground up and sold to his daughter Veronique in July in an effort to save the production and recording house.
The company name was changed to Novem Communications Inc., a reference to the Latin numeral nine, Guy Cloutier's lucky number. There was no comment from that company or its president yesterday.
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004 http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=1aaf1179-de77-4e11-9385-dcee5d4c1ad1
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Golf
Thanks Blondie.
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justhuman
It was about time
