Suspect appears in court on sexual assault charges
Christopher Norman Jost appeared before a judge at the Montreal courthouse Wednesday where he was charged with sexually assaulting a woman inside a downtown church just one day after the Parole Board of Canada revised conditions it had imposed on the repeat sex offender last summer.
After being the subject of a Canada-wide arrest warrant for a couple of days, Jost was found in Brossard on Tuesday and appeared before Quebec Court Judge Eric Downs, who ordered he be detained before a bail hearing scheduled for Jan. 18. Jost faces five charges, including the sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman who was invited into the St. James the Apostle Church, on Ste. Catherine St. W. at Bishop St., while she took pictures outside. The man who invited her in had keys to the church and held her against her will while ordering her to touch him in a sexual manner.
Jost is charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement as well as three counts alleging he violated conditions that are part of his designation, in 2001, as a longterm offender. The designation was part of a sentence Jost received in Moncton, N.B., after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. It meant that, as a repeat sex offender, Jost was subject to 10 years of supervised release after he finished serving a 78-month prison term.
Jost had recently been residing at a halfway house on St. Laurent Blvd. and on Friday, the day before the 19-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the church, the Parole Board of Canada reviewed the conditions of his release and ordered he continue residing at a halfway house for another 180 days.
“(Jost) posed a high risk of recidivism involving child rapes and assaults.”
2007 PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
According to the two most recent decisions made by the parole board in his case, Jost has been a huge headache for Correctional Service of Canada since his prison sentence expired in 2008.
The condition that he reside at a halfway house was imposed in June 2012, after Jost violated his release conditions by being in the presence of minors, among other things.
According to the decision made on Jan. 4, the parole board also agreed to remove a condition that Jost follow a treatment program aimed at addressing his sexual deviancy. In its place, the board imposed a condition that he get psychological counselling for the same problem.
“This special condition is reasonable and necessary in order to protect society and to facilitate your successful reintegration into society,” the board noted in its decision.
According to the decision, after having been sentenced to a 78-month prison term in 2001 for the sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl, Jost qualified for a statutory release in 2006, when he reached the twothirds mark of his sentence. Most federal inmates in Canada who haven’t been granted parole previously automatically qualify for such a release.
A psychological assessment in 2007 “concluded that (Jost) posed a high risk of recidivism involving child rapes and assaults.”
He was also diagnosed as bi-polar and having a dependency on alcohol and cocaine. His statutory release was revoked at one point, but his sentence expired in May 2008 and the 10-year period of supervised release immediately followed. In July 2009, Correctional Service of Canada could not contact Jost for more than a month and, when he was located, he was sentenced to a nine-month prison term for being illegally at large.
He was required to reside at a halfway house last year after a woman Jost knows came forward, in April 2012, and informed Correctional Service of Canada that she had lied often to protect him from being returned to a penitentiary. The woman alleged that Jost had been in the presence of minors often, used a cellphone and consumed alcohol (all violations of his supervised release.)
Correctional Service of Canada and the Montreal police sexual assault squad investigated the woman’s allegations last spring and imposed a requirement that Jost reside at a halfway house.
According to the decision made by the parole board last week, Jost appeared to have made improvements recently, but was still considered a high risk of reoffending.
“Since your last release in June 2012, as the board cancelled the (release) suspension and issued a formal reprimand, you seem stable and your behaviour has not led the caseworkers to fear for public or staff safety. Your problems are currently controlled by you and the supervision you are receiving. However, the risk of recidivism and danger to society are still assessed as high. You have mental health issues which affects your mood. You are currently stable under the control of pharmacological treatment, with which you are complying. Nevertheless, a disorganization in terms of your mental health would influence the risk that you present to the community.”
The decision also notes that Jost was employed and was doing volunteer work at an undisclosed location. Earlier this week, a representative from the church refused to comment on whether Jost was working or volunteering there at the time.
Jost has been convicted of sexual assault on four different occasions, in the Maritimes, between 1992 and 2001 and once admitted to the parole board that there were two other victims that he was never convicted of abusing. The victims were between the ages of 10 and 19.