Judge sentences former PQ MNA Harold LeBel to 8 months in jail for sexual assault
CTV
Former Parti Quebecois (PQ) MNA Harold LeBel was sentenced to eight months in jail after being convicted of sexual assault on Nov. 23.
Former Parti Québécois (PQ) MNA Harold LeBel was sentenced to eight months in jail after being convicted of sexual assault on Nov. 23.
Justice Serge Francoeur agreed with the joint suggestion of the defence and the Crown Thursday morning at the Rimouski courthouse.
The sentence comes with comes with two years of probation, a strict no-contact order with the victim, registration on the sex offender registry for 20 years and a DNA sample.
Before presenting the joint submission, Crown prosecutor Manon Gaudreault read an impact statement from the victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
She said she saw it as an opportunity to turn the page and even expressed her empathy for her attacker "who will have to pay for his actions, criminal acts, serious and reprehensible, but which do not define an individual."
"I have never felt more vulnerable in my life than I did that night in Rimouski," she wrote. "How are we supposed to react when a man more than twice our weight attacks us against all odds? I was so scared."
"I wouldn't want to become a trophy."
