Former Montreal school teacher sentenced to eight years for abusing young girls
CTV
A former Montreal primary school teacher who used his position as an educator and basketball coach to lure and sexually abuse five young girls has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
A former Montreal primary school teacher who used his position as an educator and basketball coach to lure and sexually abuse five young girls has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Quebec court Judge Mélanie Hébert told a Montreal courtroom Tuesday that Dominic Blanchette’s crimes were aggravated by the fact that he was in a position of authority and trust with his victims, three of whom were 10 when the abuse began.
"The fact that his offences occurred repeatedly, over a total period of a little less than five years and involved five different victims, demonstrates that Mr. Blanchette's actions were not isolated or the result of a simple lack of judgment in a particular situation," Hébert said as she read her sentence.
Hébert said that Blanchette, who turned 29 Tuesday, could not have been ignorant of the consequences of the abuse he committed between September 2017 and May 2022. "By repeating the same acts, on multiple occasions, with five different victims, Mr. Blanchette cannot ignore the criminal nature of his acts," she said.
Blanchette, who taught at two schools in the Montreal North borough, pleaded guilty in March to eight counts, including sexual interference, possession of child pornography, child luring and sexual exploitation. He pleaded guilty to sexual interference of four girls, and was convicted of the same charge involving a fifth victim, after admitting the Crown had sufficient evidence to convict him.
Hébert said Blanchette's guilty plea — which she said saved his young victims from having to testify in court — and his own history as a victim of sexual abuse, were mitigating factors in her sentencing decision. However, she said, the accused deserved an eight-year prison term because there was an above-average risk he would reoffend, even though he had entered a therapy program.
"The fact that Blanchette abused his position of authority, the relationship of trust he had with his victims and his use of manipulation are also factors that increase his responsibility," she said.
