Quebec teacher pleads guilty to charges involving minor girl

Relationship between the pair started four years ago, when the girl was in Grade 5

MONTREAL — A Montreal-area educator has pleaded guilty to charges in connection with a relationship involving a girl who was 11 when it began.

Virginia Genevrier, 40, pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of transmitting sexually explicit material to a minor and two counts of breaching conditions of a peace bond.

Le Journal de Montréal first reported Tuesday about a romantic relationship between the pair that began in 2014, when the girl was in Grade 5.

Genevrier signed a peace bond on two occasions, agreeing to keep away from the young girl, but failed to do so.

She was arrested earlier this year after a relative of the girl found an explicit photo and troubling messages on a device — notably a screen capture of Genevrier in the shower.

The case returns to court July 19 for the sentencing phase.

Prosecutor Stécie Jérôme told court that exchanges between the two included the messages, “You are the woman of my life” and “Do you want to marry me?”

The girl’s mother asked Genevrier to stop contacting her daughter after stumbling on love messages between the two. When that failed, Genevrier was arrested and signed a peace bond in the summer of 2015.

She ultimately lost her teaching job that year, but the communications and relationship continued between the pair.

In one instance, police found the girl hidden in the bathroom of Genevrier’s home after her mother reported her missing in December 2015.

Genevrier received an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to breaking conditions and obstruction of justice for lying to police.

She had signed a new peace bond valid until September 2017, and had the date it was expiring tattooed on her upper body.

The prosecutor told the court that the girl, now 15, did not collaborate much in the investigation and did so reluctantly. The girl said the pair saw each other at subway stations in Montreal, and at times during the lunch hour and after school.