Man who punched driver will serve time

A Laval resident has been ordered to report to jail within 48 hours after the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected his request to overturn the verdict in a case where he was convicted of aggravated assault for having disfigured a much older man during a road-rage incident. On Dec. 31, 2012, Jonathan Clermont, now 24, was driving a large pickup truck with a friend in the passenger seat when he cut off another driver as they were approaching an on-ramp to Highway 40 somewhere in Montreal. Both men exchanged rude hand gestures, and Clermont pumped his brakes a few times — in an apparent effort to startle the victim behind him — before Clermont stopped and positioned his truck in such a way that he almost completely blocked the on-ramp. Both men got out of their vehicles, and Clermont calmly walked toward the other driver, then in his mid-50s, and punched him in the face. The victim fell to the ground and Clermont jumped into his truck and drove off. The victim’s wife and daughter were inside the car. They noted Clermont’s licence plate and called police. The victim suffered several fractures to the right side of his face and required reconstructive surgery that involved metal plates being installed to help his skull mend. He had to eat from a straw for a while and was unable to return to work full time for seven months. He suffered permanent damage that left him with a crooked nose, one eye lower than the other and double vision in one eye. Clermont claimed he was acting in self defence but did not testify at his trial. The defence’s version of events was based entirely on the testimony of Clermont’s friend. He said the older man uttered: “Young guy, I’m going to give you one,” and then tried to punch Clermont at least twice. But under cross examination, the witness admitted that when he originally gave a statement to the police he said, “I heard more than I saw.” On March 22, 2016, Quebec Court Judge Julie Riendeau decided she believed the testimony of the victim’s wife and daughter over that of Clermont’s friend and convicted Clermont of aggravated assault. More than a year later, Clermont was sentenced to an 18-month jail term to be followed by three years of probation. He was released on bail after he filed an appeal based on arguments that Riendeau had not considered the entirety of his friend’s testimony and that it should have at least raised a reasonable doubt in his favour. But, on Monday, the Quebec Court of Appeal rejected his appeal on all grounds and ordered that, almost five years the assault, it is time for him to pay the piper.