GUILTY PLEA FROM PRIEST
Boucher’s plea follows conviction on similar charge earlier this month
Boucher admits sexual abuse
Montreal-area Catholic priest Brian Boucher, who was found guilty earlier this month of sexually assaulting a youth, pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually abusing another boy in the mid1990s.
Boucher, 56, pleaded guilty to two charges at the Montreal courthouse: sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching. The acts took place between 199599 while he worked at St-John-Brébeuf parish in LaSalle.
In early January, Boucher was found guilty of sexually assaulting another boy, between 2008-11, while serving as parish priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in the town of Mount Royal.
The victim in Monday’s case, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, had testified in the previous trial to provide “similar fact” evidence, supporting the prosecution’s case and challenging the defence’s argument that the victim had fabricated his complaint. The man said Boucher began abusing him when he was 10 years old. He said the abuse occurred, in some form, every time he was with the priest, which he estimated was about twice a week over a threeyear period.
He said family members had asked Boucher to take him under his wing while his father was in prison, and the priest became a father figure of sorts. The man said the abuse began with Boucher touching him in his car.
“He would pick me up at LaSalle Catholic School, which was a block and a half from the church. He would drive me back to my house and he would have his hand on my thigh or on my belt buckle,” he told the court. “He would always try to grab my crotch.”
Some of the car rides ended at motels, where Boucher would shower and tell the boy to do the same. He would lecture him about inappropriate sexual behaviour, touch his genitals and request that he reciprocate. The man said Boucher would have him get naked on the bed, where the priest would lubricate himself and straddle him.
Boucher would sometimes take him to confession afterward.
“I was supposed to confess to something that was still going on, right now,” he said. “And right after confession, I knew the exact same thing would be going on again.”
Boucher had denied the allegations before entering Monday’s guilty plea and was supposed to stand trial on the charges this week. As a result of the plea, a conditional stay was placed on two other charges: sexual assault and breaking and entering.
Crown prosecutor Annabelle Sheppard said the victim was “extremely relieved” following the plea.
“I think the process has been really positive for him,” Sheppard said outside the courtroom.
“I think the quality of evidence and the credibility definitely played a role (in Boucher’s guilty plea),” she said. “He was able to see and hear the testimony upfront before his trial. It definitely had an impact.”
The Montreal archdiocese issued a statement immediately following Boucher’s guilty plea, praising the two victims’ “courage” in coming forward.
“The abusive behaviour they described is deplorable,” it said.
In the same statement, Archbishop Christian Lépine called Boucher’s case a “scandal that is a source of tremendous sadness.”
“We will never accept that such crimes be committed and remain concealed,” Lépine said.
Boucher has worked in churches in Montreal, LaSalle, Dorval, town of Mount Royal and Senneville. He also served as chaplain at McGill University.
According to the archdiocese, proceedings are underway to establish what should become of his clerical status.
Boucher was stripped of all priest duties when the archdiocese first learned of the complaint in December 2015.
An internal inquiry into the matter was put on hold in March 2017, due to the criminal charges being laid, and will resume now that both trials have concluded.
“The penal administrative process can impose several sanctions upon a cleric deemed guilty,” the archdiocese said. “The most serious of which is dismissal from the clerical state.”
Boucher’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 25. Sheppard has said she plans on arguing for a “substantial” prison sentence.