Former teacher Remi Dallaire sentenced to 8 years for sexual abuse of 8-year-old girl

A former rural Manitoba teacher found guilty of sexually touching a young girl has been sentenced to eight years behind bars. 

Remi Dallaire, who previously worked as a teacher in Lorette, Man., was found guilty of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and making sexually explicit material available to a child in September 2018, following a trial. A charge of sexual assault was stayed.

The victim was eight years old at the time, court heard, and the abuse lasted for about a month. 

On Wednesday, Dallaire was sentenced to eight years, less time already served, which works out to 80.5 months.

Dallaire worked as a teacher in Lorette, about 25 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, up until June 2016, when he was charged with the offences. He pleaded not guilty. 

"He has always maintained his innocence," said Dallaire's lawyer, Matt Gould, outside the courthouse on Wednesday.

"Mr. Dallaire will have to determine how he intends to proceed," following the guilty decision and sentencing, Gould said.

"For an individual maintaining his innocence, my belief is he will take it as far as it has to go."

The trial judge accepted the Crown's argument that Dallaire formed a relationship with the girl's mother and exploited her trust in a calculated effort to get alone time with her daughter.

"The mother believed he was a safe person," Crown attorney Danielle Simard said at a sentencing hearing earlier this month.

In his sentencing decision, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ken Champagne said there were few mitigating factors in the case since Dallaire has not accepted responsibility for his actions and has shown no remorse.

He also highlighted the severity of the offence and the profound impact it has had on the now 11-year-old victim. In her victim impact statement, she told the court that she is afraid to be alone and has nightmares, Champagne said.

Motion to reopen trial rejected

Champagne also explained Wednesday why he rejected a motion at Dallaire's sentencing hearing to reopen the case.

At the June 21 hearing, Gould asked for the trial to be reopened in order to present new evidence that he said came to light in January 2019. 

An inmate at Headingley Correctional Centre brought forward a detailed confession, Gould said, explaining his connections to the victim's family and how he supposedly committed the offences, but later recanted the confession.  

Further evidence was contained in what was described as a detailed private investigator's report, Gould said.

Champagne said Wednesday he found it was "unbelievable" that a third person would have come forward with evidence that so closely matched what was said during the trial. 

He added that the inmate had no connection to Lorette or the victim and no logical reason to be in the community during the time of the offences. 

"This is unbelievable and could only be concocted with the help of the accused," he said.