Friday, December 8, 2017

Ex-national ski coach Bertrand Charest gets 12-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting teen girls

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SAINT-JEROME, QUE.—A judge sentenced former national ski coach Bertrand Charest to a 12-year prison term Friday for sexually assaulting teenage girls he trained, calling his actions “inexcusable and criminal.”

“This behaviour is not acceptable in 2017, it wasn’t in 1998, just as it wasn’t in 1950 or any other era,” Judge Sylvain Lepine said in his ruling.

“It is criminal in Quebec, in Europe and in every country in the world.

“These young women were at an important stage of their personal development. Their entire adult life has been shaped by the accused’s acts.”

All but one of the victims and alleged victims were under the age of 18 at the time of the offences, with the youngest being 12.

With time already served in detention since his arrest in 2015, Charest has seven years and 10 months left in the sentence.

His lawyer, Antonio Cabral, said he will look at the sentence in detail before deciding whether to appeal, as he is doing for last June’s convictions on 37 of the 57 charges Charest faced.  (more...)


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