Former West Island teacher sentenced to 2 years for sexually abusing students

Robert Charpentier, 74, is facing sex offences relating to incidents between 1980 and 1990, according Montreal police.

A former West Island teacher was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison for sexually abusing two of his students who were minors in the 80s and 90s.

Robert Charpentier, 77, was convicted on Dec. 13, 2022, after the judge heard testimony from two students who attended the Emmanuel Christian School in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des Ormeaux.

It took one of the victims 30 years to come forward in 2019, telling the court that the abuse started with a game of truth or dare that turned sexual. The other victim said Charpentier sexually abused him during lunch at school.

In victim impact statements, they said that they lived with shame and felt betrayed by Charpentier throughout their adult lives. One said the trauma led to struggles with drugs and alcohol.

On Thursday, one of the victims told CTV News that he is "happy it's over" and that seeing Charpentier put in handcuffs in the courtroom provided him a sense of closure.

Above all, he said he wanted to be believed.

"To be able to hear the judge and the detectives and the prosecutor, but [especially] to be able to hear the judge say, like, 'I believe you,' that was really, really important," he said, "because that's really all I cared about was, like, does the judge believe me?"

The identities of the victims are shielded by a publication ban.

The defence had asked for a sentence to be served in the community, while the Crown was seeking between 24 and 30 months behind bars.

According to a 50-page judgment from Quebec Court Justice Guylaine Rivest, avoiding prison time was not an option despite Charpentier not having a criminal record and being classified as a low risk of reoffending.

"It is true that a sentence of imprisonment in the community can meet the objectives of denunciation and deterrence while leaving room for the restorative objectives of rehabilitation, reparations to the victim and community, and the promotion of a sense of responsibility in the offender," the judge wrote.

"There are situations, however, where the need for denunciation and deterrence is so urgent that those objectives can be achieved only by incarceration. This prioritization must be even more rigorously applied when the offences were committed over an extended period and in a context of trust or authority."

Charpentier must serve three years probation after his prison term and provide a sample of his DNA. He will also be placed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.

The victim who spoke to CTV News said he keeps in touch with the second victim and is glad that he came forward to police after all these years.

With files from CTV Montreal's Stéphane Giroux