Guard at youth protection centre on trial for alleged sexual assault of boy

Closing arguments delivered Friday, judge says decision coming Nov. 1

A Quebec Court judge will decide in a couple of weeks whether she heard enough evidence to convict a former security guard at a youth protection centre in Montreal of sexually abusing one of the teenagers under its care.

Jose Manuel Antunes Ries, 39, of Montreal, underwent a threeday trial at the Montreal courthouse this week in a case where he is charged with sexual assault and touching a minor for a sexual purpose.

He is alleged to have touched a boy's penis on Dec. 8, 2020 while the youth slept in his bedroom at the centre in eastern Montreal.

The section of the centre where the boy had a room houses more than a dozen youths, and the accused was its regular nighttime guard. The centre treats youths between the ages of 12 and 18 who have learning disabilities.

A standard publication ban has been placed on the boy's name and information that could identify him.

After having heard evidence on Friday from the Crown's last two witnesses as well as closing arguments from prosecutor Anna Levin and defence lawyer Antonio Cabral, Judge Joëlle Roy said she will deliver her decision on Nov. 1.

The boy testified Thursday and said that while he slept alone in his room at the centre, someone opened the door, lifted his clothing and touched his penis. He said the abuse lasted about five seconds and that he did not get a good look at the person's face because it was dark in his room.

Mayra Hernandez, an educator at the centre, testified Friday and said when she started her shift at 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 9, 2020, she was informed the boy had not woken up yet.

“I went to see him in his room. I tried to wake him up — it was very difficult. I had to go several times and he told me he was sore all over and he wasn't getting up,” she said.

The boy finally got up to go to the bathroom a couple of hours later, Hernandez said, and she told him to get ready to have a conversation with her.

“When I went in to see him in his room, he was seated on his bed and was crying. He said that the nighttime guard had abused him overnight,” she said.

“I knew that the situation was delicate. So I said, `Are you sure? Do you know at what time?' And he said he wasn't sure when it happened.”

Cabral presented no evidence, but in his closing statement he argued there was very little evidence that his client sexually assaulted the boy.

“(The boy) doesn't remember when it happened. He doesn't remember at all — whether it was at the start of the night, the middle or the end of the night,” Cabral said, adding his client's shift started about an hour after the boy said he fell asleep.

Cabral also reminded the judge the boy testified that another youth at the centre resembled Antunes Reis in height and build.

“There is an admission that my client was there that night. There was an incident and now my client is accused of having touched the youth,” Cabral said. “But we now know that other people had the opportunity, not just my client.”