Robert Leblanc is now 65 years old. He does not have an imposing stature, but this man murdered, in 1992, with great violence, a 22-year-old student, Chantal Brochu, whom he had noticed in the bar of the University of Montreal, Le Clandestin.
After following her, he attacked and dragged her to the back of the Saint-Germain church in Outremont, where he brutally raped her before killing and abandoning her.
Mr. Leblanc was arrested two years later, while he was detained for other crimes of sexual assault. In prison, he had confided in a fellow prisoner who warned the authorities.
Found guilty after a murder trial held in 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison, but due to his predatory profile and extensive history of sex crimes, the Crown (then represented by Me France Charbonneau, who has since become a judge) obtained that he be declared a dangerous offender.
He was then the second individual in Quebec to inherit this label.
Robert Leblanc claims to have changed
The hearing before the CLCC was held on Monday morning, by videoconference. Accompanied by his lawyer and his parole officer, Robert Leblanc explained to the two commissioners that he understood that he had been considered a dangerous man, but that after 29 years in detention, he had changed a lot.
He repeated several times that, for him, it was a thing of the past. I have changed, I have the right like everyone else to have a second chance, he told the commissioners. I know it’s a big responsibility, but if you don’t try it, you won’t know.
The victim, Chantal Brochu (file photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada
The Board pointed out that all of the professionals who have assessed him, while acknowledging his progress, conclude that due to the severity of his problems, it is premature to consider day parole.
Robert Leblanc stated that he does not agree with this conclusion because professionals always go back to the past
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Gradual approach
The two commissioners pointed out to him that he had spent most of his life in prison and that he knows very little about life in the community, in a society that has changed a lot over the past 30 years.
The case management team supervising Robert Leblanc recommends an extremely progressive approach that could begin with a transition to a minimum-security penitentiary.
This approach would make it possible to assess whether Robert Leblanc is capable of functioning in this context, before considering escorted leave.
The inmate admitted that this is a reasonable approach.
Robert Leblanc will be able to address the parole board again in January 2025.