Quebec man guilty of sexual assault gets conditional discharge so he can travel for work

Warning: This story contains disturbing details of sexual assault. A list of resources for people who have experienced sexual violence appears at the end of the article.

Victims' rights advocates are denouncing a decision by a Quebec judge to grant a Trois-Rivières man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and taking photographs of her private parts a conditional discharge, so that he can travel for his work as an engineer.

In April 2019, Simon Houle, then a 27-year-old mechanical engineering student at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, sexually assaulted a sleeping woman during a party in an apartment.

In his decision, Quebec court Judge Matthieu Poliquin described how the victim was "awoken by the light from a camera. She felt fingers in her vagina moving back and forth." Her camisole was hiked up and her bra detached from the front. Nine photographs of the woman's private parts were later found on Houle's phone.

Houle pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges of sexual assault and voyeurism.

The Crown sought an 18-month sentence for Houle, however, in a decision released last month, Poliquin handed Houle a conditional discharge with three months' probation.

Poliquin said for Houle, the consequences of a criminal record "would have particularly negative and disproportionate consequences for him, since he would have difficulty travelling outside the country, which could hamper his career as an engineer."

Houle, who has worked for manufacturing company Canimex Group since 2018, has yet to be required to travel for his job.

On Monday, Canimex's vice-president of human resources, Michel Goulet, said the company was "concerned" about the judgment and said Houle would be required to continue working from home and would be prohibited from participating in social activities with his colleagues. 

In a subsequent statement to Radio-Canada Tuesday, Goulet said Houle has been informed his employment at the company has been terminated for the moment.

Houle, who was convicted of impaired driving in 2014, has no prior criminal record involving the use of force against others.

He sought therapy shortly after the sexual assault and voyeurism charges were laid, said the judge in his sentencing ruling, and he admitted to sexually assaulting another woman in 2015, for which he was never charged.

This admission, although "disturbing," according to Poliquin, "demonstrates [Houle's] desire for transparency" and his serious approach to rehabilitation. 

Poliquin noted that Houle pleaded guilty to the 2019 attack, that he "greatly regrets his actions" and was so ashamed of what he had done that he never told his father and brothers of the charges laid against him.