Former Manitoba teacher should get 8 years for sexual offences against girl, Crown says at sentencing hearing

WARNING: This story contains details about sexual offences committed against a minor.

Crown and defence lawyers say a former rural Manitoba teacher described as a "predator" should serve five to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of sexually touching a young girl. 

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. 

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 on Friday. 

Simard said Dallaire began "grooming" the girl soon after she, her mother and sister moved into the same apartment building as Dallaire in Lorette, about 25 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.

Up until June of 2016, when the abuse took place, Dallaire, then 31, worked as a teacher at a school in the community. He was charged in July 2016 and pleaded not guilty to the offences.

"The moral blameworthiness … is considered very, very serious," Simard said. "The accused was a trusted member of the community, largely due to him being a teacher at the school." 

iPod offered for sex 

Simard said Dallaire attempted to normalize the fact he was spending time with the girl. Court heard he took her to a toy store, out for supper and to movies in Winnipeg, and that she slept over at his place.

The girl had also referred to him as step-dad, Simard said. 

On July 13, 2016, after spending several days staying with Dallaire at a home across the street where he was house-sitting for a colleague, the girl told her mother Dallaire had sexually assaulted her and that she was scared to say anything because it would be her fault, his trial heard.

A video interview she gave RCMP on July 14, 2016, was played in court during Dallaire's trial, in which she described graphic instances of touching and sexual assault.

Daillaire and the girl had showers together and slept in the same bed, his trial heard, and he made her watch pornography and asked her to do things to him that she saw in the video.

She was also offered an iPod for sex by Dallaire. 

"This was well thought-out and planned by [Dallaire]," Simard said. "The groundwork was laid right from the start with respect to the child."

Motion to reopen trial rejected 

Dallaire's defence lawyer, Matt Gould, brought forward a motion at the beginning of Friday's sentencing hearing to reopen the trial in order to present new evidence that came to light in January 2019. 

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

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

His application to reopen the trial was denied by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ken Champagne. 

"He understands how serious these offence are," Gould said of his client. "He understands how serious the impact is on the victims."

Three victim impact statements were filed by the Crown — from the girl, her mother and her father.

Simard said the girl suffers from angry outbursts and has trust issues with any male she not related to. 

"It's really quite indicative of the far-reaching consequences" of Dallaire's actions, she said, adding that the girl's statement described how Dallaire had ruined her life. 

Simard is seeking an eight-year sentence for Dallaire, while Gould asked for five. 

The Crown also asked the court to impose conditions forbidding Dallaire from working in a kindergarten to Grade 12 school or being near children under 16 years old. 

Champagne will deliver his sentence next Wednesday.