Montreal North serial rapist investigated after alleged sexual assault
A man who raped nine women in Montreal North more than a decade ago when he was a teenager faces the possibility of new charges following an investigation into an alleged sexual assault committed last summer.
In 2009, Wisbens Demosthene, now 29, became the first person in Canada to be designated a longterm offender in a Youth Court case when he was sentenced as an adult to a 10-year prison term for having sexually assaulted nine victims — girls and women between the ages of 14 and 26 — in 2005 and 2006. He came to be known as the “Montreal North Rapist” while the Montreal police investigated the series of attacks and realized they were looking for a person who was becoming more violent as his crimes continued. Some of the women were sexually assaulted at knifepoint.
When he confessed to his crimes, Demosthene admitted he attacked the victims, beginning at the age of 16, to satiate a need to dominate and feel superior to women. After he was sentenced he also admitted to having been part of a Montreal street gang and to having been involved in pimping despite his young age.
With the long-term-offender designation, Demosthene was required to respect a series of conditions imposed on him for a period of seven years after his prison term expired in June last year. According to the written summary of a decision made recently by the Parole Board of Canada, Demosthene was released from and returned to federal penitentiaries a couple of times since he reached his statutory release date (the two-thirds mark of his sentence) in 2014.
He was back behind bars on May 17, after Correctional Service Canada was informed that he was being investigated for the alleged sexual assault committed last summer. It appears that Demosthene knew the alleged victim to some degree because the police learned he had “possibly consumed cannabis with the alleged victim.”
The parole board decision does not mention where the alleged sexual assault took place. According to provincial court records, no charges have been filed so far.
Based on advice from his lawyer, Demosthene said very little about the allegation when he was questioned by a parole officer. He expressed hope that he would be released again soon so he could return to the workforce and resume his studies.
“Your case management team (the people who help an offender prepare for a release) feels that this information (the sexual assault investigation) allows it to conclude that the risk you represent has augmented to the point where it is unacceptable,” parole board member Richard Dupuis wrote in his decision.
Dupuis recommended that Demosthene be charged with having violated his conditions “because (the parole board) is of the opinion that no surveillance program can adequately protect society from the risk you represent, by all appearances.”
Demosthene was charged with the same offence — breach of longterm supervision — in November. The charge was filed after authorities found evidence, on Demosthene’s smartphone, that he had sexual relations with several women and was possibly involved in pimping again. As part of his conditions, he was required to report to his parole officer any relationships he has with women.
On Feb. 23, Demosthene pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to a 117-day prison term.