The Trois-Rivières engineer whose candy sentence shocked all of Quebec last month is the subject of a new police investigation because he allegedly assaulted a woman in an all-inclusive in Cuba a few days ago.
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“When I came back and saw the news, I was overwhelmed,” says Vickie Vachon, who met Simon Houle in Cayo Coco during a week-long trip with her friends. I said to myself: “Ayoye, he really didn’t understand anything”. »
Courtesy picture
Vickie Vachon, the alleged victim.
On Sunday, July 3, the resident of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac enjoyed a beautiful evening with her friend and other Quebecers she met in the hotel complex. Simon Houle, who was also staying at Memories Caribe Beach Resort barely a week after receiving his sentence, joined them.
Then, her friend expressed the desire to go to bed. To avoid leaving her to walk alone, Vickie Vachon advised her other friends that she would go to accompany her. Simon Houle would also have decided to accompany them.
“There, I asked my two good friends to follow us so as not to leave me alone with him on the way back,” she said.
Shortly after, as the small group walked back to the bar, Simon Houle allegedly grabbed Vickie Vachon’s buttocks for no reason.
“And a nice fat grab, there, she rages. It was really intense. I tripped very stiff. I turned to him and gave him a Dr. Martens kick in the shin. I asked him to explain to me what I did to let him believe that he had the right to do this. »
“It’s my hand”…
“He was like, ‘It’s not my fault, it’s my hand, it’s my hand,'” recalls one of Vickie’s friends, who preferred to withhold her name, but corroborated the story.
Photo taken from Simon Houle’s Facebook page
Engineer Simon Houle managed to convince a judge that he didn’t deserve a criminal record for committing a sexual assault on a woman.
When the quartet returned to the bar, the elementary school teacher sat down with Simon Houle to raise awareness.
“He really grabbed the wrong girl,” she said. I’m a very staunch feminist and I lectured her for over 30 minutes. I asked him if he did that in Quebec, grabbing girls’ buttocks. I explained to him that it was a sexual assault. »
Vickie Vachon even had the impression of having given rise to a real reflection by dint of lecturing him, she admits, discouraged. Houle would have even shed a few tears.
Quite a surprise
Upon his return to Quebec, the woman from Saguenay was quite surprised to learn that he had just been tried for a sexual offense.
Indeed, Houle had pleaded guilty to having sexually assaulted a friend three years ago. He had also taken photos of her private parts while she was intoxicated by alcohol and sleeping.
The victim suffered several devastating psychological consequences, which led to hospitalization.
Judge Matthieu Poliquin nevertheless granted Houle a conditional discharge last month, along with three years probation. The magistrate stressed that the attack had taken place “after all quickly” and that he had made “a particularly convincing demonstration of rehabilitation”.
Vickie Vachon remains emotional as she talks about the event in the South.
“I’m a mom of a boy and I teach little guys and I talk to them about consent, I teach them how important it is to respect women. I find that appalling. Imagine if he had come across a more naive and shy woman? »
The Lac des Deux-
Montagnes confirmed that he had opened an investigation. She is due to meet with the alleged victim this week to take her formal statement. Even if the facts would have occurred in Cuba, it is possible for Canadian authorities to lay charges.
“We are going to carry out an investigation of as good quality as if it had happened in Quebec, explains Inspector Jean-Philippe Labbé, head of investigations at the Régie. Since the people involved are Quebecers, it makes our work easier since it is possible to meet them. »
Pierre Spain, Simon Houle’s lawyer, preferred not to comment.