A young sex offender, aged 23, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for 32 victims, including 29 minors, who were convicted of sexual assault, solicitation, sexual intercourse and making child pornography.
• Read more: He left behind 32 victims: A sex offender from Pews could spend 14 years behind bars
Jonathan Roussel presents a vivid portrait of a sex offender.
Between January 2018 and July 2021, the man from Pius took advantage of around thirty young women, most of whom he met on social networks, to satisfy his instincts.
On Thursday, Judge Thomas Jacques listed the sentences he would impose on each of the 30 charges against the accused. If they were to be added, Roussel would have taken more than 40 years, the judge explained, to make him understand the scale of his crimes.
But because the law protects against cruel and unusual punishment, Judge Jack reduced it to 12-and-a-half years in prison. The sentence is close to the prosecutor's proposal, which recommended a sentence of 12 to 14 years. As for the defence, they recommended an overall sentence of six years.
Strategy and advance planning
The magistrate detailed Jonathan Roussel's long list of crimes and expressed regret that the young man had done everything possible to achieve his goals.
Through threats, bargaining, psychological manipulation, Roussel exploited his victims' vulnerability through “tricks” and “advances.”
“He ignored the reluctance, pain and sometimes the clear denial of his victims,” Judge Jack condemned in his detailed forty-page decision.
The accused maintained virtual relationships with his victims, some going so far as to consider him in a relationship with the young man, who often lied about his age, causing young women to let their guard down. He used this connection to his advantage and demanded sex. In one case, his young victim went so far as to ask for money in the hope of getting the accused to back down, and he forced her to do so anyway, leading her to seek sexual services on a whim.
Risk of recurrence
A pre-sentence report prepared to accompany the procedures indicates a “higher than average” risk of recidivism.
The expert who evaluated the predator recommended that intensive sex offender treatment be implemented during the youth's detention to improve the youth's prognosis.
Judge Thomas Jack assessed in his judgment that “the offender displayed a truly disturbing recklessness”, stressing that for Roussel sex had become a “mechanism of avoidance” of his personal problems.
During sentencing observations, some of the victims who could be identified testified to the turmoil in their lives caused by Jonathan Roussel's passing. “He has imposed upon us suffering and pain,” said one of them.
On Thursday, Jonathan Roussel apologized to his victims for the harm he caused. “Since I came back [en prison], I continue to work on myself. I am doing my best to prevent this from happening again, create awareness and improve myself as a person,” he assured.
As the accused has been remanded from July 2021, he will have only eight years in jail.
Serious allegations against Jonathan Roussel
- 6 attractive heads
- 3 Sexual assaults
- 3 counts of sexual intercourse with minors
- 2 counts of soliciting sexual contact with minors
- 2 counts of sending sexually explicit material to a minor
- 2 counts of making child pornography
- 1 count of accessing child pornography
- 1 count of receiving sexual services for consideration
- 2 Nuisance communications
- 8 counts of breach of publication order
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