Behchoko man gets four years for sexual assault
Marty Bouvier sentenced for 2016 attack on female youth
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, August 21, 2017
BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO
Calling his crime "very, very disturbing," a judge in Yellowknife sentenced a Behchoko man to four years in jail after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Marty Bouvier, now 21, was punished by Justice Louise Charbonneau in Supreme Court on July 10.
Charbonneau dealt Bouvier the standard 1.5 days credit for each of the 557 days he spent in pre-trial custody, meaning his sentence amounts to two years and 16 days.
According to an agreed statement of facts, on New Year's Day in 2016, Bouvier and the 15-year-old victim consumed alcohol at a party.
They went for a walk and ended up at an abandoned house. Bouvier pushed the girl onto a mattress and despite her pleas for him to stop, he had sexual intercourse with her.
There is a ban on publishing any information or evidence that could lead to the identity if the victim being revealed.
RCMP were contacted later that day and began an investigation. Officers met up with the victim and her mother at the health centre.
The girl was shaking, crying and very upset, court heard. Police went to the abandoned house and seized a blanket and a condom. DNA found on those items matched Bouvier's.
Charbonneau pointed out Bouvier was on probation at the time of the attack.
He had been convicted and sentenced as an adult in July of 2015.
In that instance, Bouvier was sentenced to four months in jail and two years probation for attempting to drag a 12-year-old into a wooded area in Behchoko.
One of his court-imposed conditions was Bouvier was not to have any contact with a person under the age of 16 except for his immediate family unless he was in the presence of another sober adult.
Charbonneau noted that Bouvier himself was sexually abused as a child. She also considered two victim impact statements before handing down her sentence, one if them from the victim herself.
"Sadly, we often read these types of reports from victims. Victims of sexual assault lose trust in others, isolate themselves, often are suicidal and engage is self-destructive behaviour," said Charbonneau.
"It is terribly sad and unfair that after having been victimized in this way by Mr. Bouvier, she has felt, in a sense, further victimized by having people talk to her about this.
"It was not her fault. Let there be no mistake about that. The one who was responsible for what happened her is Mr. Bouvier."
Charbonneau gave Bouvier credit for pleading guilty thus sparing the victim the trauma of having to testify in court. She added that unless Bouvier changes his behaviour he can expect longer sentences in the future and could be headed towards dangerous or long-term offender status.
Before he pleaded guilty, the case was headed to trial in Yellowknife after Crown prosecutor Brendan Green was successful in his application for a change of venue.
He argued it would not be fair to have the victim testify in her home community and that finding an impartial jury in the small community would be difficult.
Bouvier has apologized to the victim and her family, Charbonneau noted. She asked Green to make sure the apology was conveyed to the victim and her family.
Charbonneau also ordered Bouvier's name be added to the national sex offender registry for the next 20 years.
He must also submit a sample of his DNA to be placed on the national registry. He was also prohibited from owning or possessing a firearms for life.
It is not clear where Bouvier will serve out his sentence.
Charbonneau did not recommend he serve it in the North, stressing that Bouvier needs psychological counselling and wanted to see him go to whichever corrections institution is best set up to help him with that.
