Sarnia teacher gets 14 months for sexually touching pupil

A disgraced Sarnia teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually touching a student over whom she held a position of authority will serve 14 months in jail with two years probation, a judge ruled Thursday.

Melissa Lefebvre, 38, sat quietly with her family in the courthouse where six months ago the former Northern Collegiate Institute French teacher and student liaison admitted to engaging in sexual activity with a student on numerous occasions between 2016 and 2017. The student’s identity is protected by a publication ban. Justice Mark Hornblower said Lefebvre accepted full responsibility for what happened, and applauded her effort to seek counselling without court direction. But her actions were nevertheless “difficult to fathom,” Hornblower said, and would have lingering effects on the student.

“Some of the people I deal with, sadly, their path is predictable,” Hornblower said. “Your situation was remarkably different ... the pre-sentence report described a person who was caring, compassionate and a positive role model. It is hard to fathom how, in the face of all that, we are sitting here today.”

Also noted was the immediate guilty plea and Lefebvre’s decision not to prolong the court proceeding.

The student was not in court to testify.

Also as mandated by the court, Lefebvre is not to contact the victim or the parents of the student, and is to seek rehabilitation as recommended by her probation officer. She will be registered on a sex offender registry.

“It was wrong any way it is looked at,” Hornblower said. “It was legally wrong, it was morally wrong, it was ethically wrong, it was professionally wrong, and it was parentally wrong.” Lefebvre, in court for the first time since her guilty plea, did not speak during Thursday’s court proceeding. She left quickly after Hornblower made his decision. Lefebvre has been suspended by the Ontario College of Teachers, the provincial regulatory body, pending formal professional discipline. According to its online database, Lefebvre, a Western University graduate, had been licensed to teach since 2005.