Saying that she wanted to send out a warning to potential sexual predators, a judge last week sentenced a male massage therapist from Laval to seven years imprisonment and a lifetime on a list of sexual offenders.
In sentencing Jean-François Morrison, age 41, at the Laval courthouse on April 15, Quebec Court judge Sandra Blanchard followed a recommendation made by the prosecution that the accused be given a sentence that would be “severe” as well as “exemplary.”
Morrison was found guilty in February of sexually assaulting 20 women between 2015 and 2018, most of whom were massage clients. According to evidence presented during his trial, he had also posted a compromising photo on Facebook of another woman without her permission.
In a pre-sentencing report, the judge called Morrison a “predator” who lied about his qualifications as a massage therapist and who manipulated his clients.
Prosecutor Stéphanie Gilbert said the Crown felt it was necessary to send out a warning message to anyone who might feel tempted to act as Morrison did towards his victims – at least one of which was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when assaulted.
Statements heard in sexual assault by woman on boy
Impact statements were heard last week at the Laval courthouse in a case involving a 43-year-old woman who pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy she had been hired to improve his grade-school marks.
According to a statement taken from the boy, he now suffers from insomnia, nightmares, learning difficulties, and obsessive-compulsive disorders, as a result of the sexual abuse by the woman, identified as Josianne Lévesque.
After two years, the boy decided to tell his mother what was going on, even though, according to testimony, Lévesque warned him that she could go to jail if he were to tell anyone about their relationship.
Lévesque had been the boy’s school teacher at a Montreal-area private school the year before the abuse started. She was later hired by the parents as an academic tutor for their son over a period of 17 months, according to evidence heard by Judge Serge Cimon.
Lévesque is scheduled to be sentenced in May. The prosecution is seeking a jail sentence of two years or more.
