Robert Sabourin, former Roman Catholic school teacher at La Citadelle High School was convicted in 1999 on several counts of sexual abuse involving young boys – sentenced to two years less a day. He entered a guilty plea to new charges in 2010 and received a conditional sentence. Person in positions of authority both in and out of the school who were told that Sabourin was molesting failed to contact police or CAS (ie Father Gary Ostler and Principal Jeannine Seguin) Sabourin’s victims include Andre Lavoie and Alain Seguin, both of whom testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. Sabourin often served as unofficial photographer for the diocese. He was a good friend of Adolph Proulx, a former bishop of the Diocese of Alexandria (now Alexandria-Cornwall). Proulx’ sister lived with Jeannine Seguin, the Principal at La Citadelle while Sabourin was a teacher. Seguin did not call police police or CAS when told about Sabourin. I was also told that that Sabourin worked with altar boys at his parish. |
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The Poignant Voice of a Victim(Andre Lavoie: Victim Impact Statement) |
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30 January 2009: BLOG “Connections” |
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Former teacher pleads guilty to sexually assaulting studentCornwall Standard Freeholder 16 January 2010 Posted By STAFF A retired Ecole Secondaire La Citadelle teacher charged with sexually abusing a former student pled guilty Friday. Robert Sabourin, 84, was sentenced to serve a conditional sentence of two years less a day for charges of indecent assault on a male and gross indecency laid in September 2007. The victim was between 14 and 18 at the time of the alleged assaults, which would have taken place between September 1974 and June 1978. As he read a statement discussing the impact of the abuse in court before Justice Johanne Lafrance-Cardinal, entirely in French, the victim choked backed tears and then cried during a statement made by Sabourin. Sabourin was previously convicted in 1999 on charges he had sexually abused four boys between the ages of 12 and 14 three decades earlier. The former photography and art teacher was sentenced to two years less a day in jail in that case as well. Two of Sabourin’s four victims from that trial testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry about how their lives were changed by the abuse. Sabourin will serve his two-year sentence under house arrest. …………………….. Comments on this Article. Public servants are put in a place of trust and must uphold a higher degree of standard. Its difficult to screen for preditors, but peer monitoring can help. Just my 2 cents….. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By nonbeliever ……………………………… Nonbeliever you suggest peer monitoring, but the question is of WHO?. This is the second time that this self proclaimed pedohile gets sentenced and yet he will not serve a single day in jail. Both times he was sentenced to house arrest by the judge. So your suggestion ought to be aimed at the judges who should be sentencing these admitted pedophiles to harsher sentences. The judge is a public servant and he is put in place to uphold the law. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By wildone, ……………………………… I remember hearing about him then, I was in high school during those years. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By junglelord, |
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Pre-trial for alleged abuser set for April 6Cornwall Standard Freeholder 13 February 2009 Posted By STAFF The judicial pre-trial for a retired Ecole Secondaire La Citadelle teacher charged with sexually abusing a former student has been set for April 6. Robert Sabourin, 83, was charged with indecent assault on a male and gross indecency in September 2007. The student was between 14 and 18 at the time of the alleged assaults, which would have taken place between September 1974 and June 1978. Sabourin was previously convicted in 1999 on charges he’d sexually abused four boys between the ages of 12 and 14 three decades earlier. The former photography teacher was sentenced to two years less a day in jail. Two of Sabourin’s four victims from that trial testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry about how their lives were irrevocably changed by his abuse. Sabourin is also scheduled to appear in assignment court on April 16. He was not in the courtroom Thursday. Comments on this Article. OK so how much of his first sentence did he serve, come on Freeholder tells us the facts and is he going to plead they he was not given a speedy trial like all the others and be set free. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #1 By what justice, ……………………… So he was charged in September 2007 and he is only now getting to trial no freakin wonder they get freed on time requirements. When will the courts take this seriously and get these trials started sooner. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #2 By dodger, …………………………. what justice, I wouldn’t hold too much faith in reading what you are looking for in here. It appears that no matter what Osprey writes everyone accuses them of misprinting. dodger I bet they take it more serious then we think. The major problem is all the special interest groups and issues that come into play. I am not siding with the system at all, but I do know people in it. There are so many policies and procedures that it really takes that long to come to trial. You can thank systems and processes like the charter of rights for these policies and procedures.Personally I think a lead injection is better then sentencing, but apparently that is not fair either. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #3 By itinerant ……………………………….. Are any of you going to congratulate Stormont council for the new industry coming to Ingleside?? . Reply | Report | Page Top Post #4 By itinerant, …………………………… Sabpiromn Itinerant,Well then Osprey must be misprinting ,if everyone thinks that way.So why doesn,t osprey then print the whole story.First and foremost serious crimes like these should be speeded up,and if any crimes should go un answered or thrown out of court because of time frames, well then we should let the crimes go that are less serous.I think the people would rather see 10 less serious crimes thrown out of court,than one crime of sexuel abuse.So maybe itinerant you can pass that on to the people you no in the legal system. Reply | Report | Page Top Post #5 By luckyred, ………………………… Nope the legal system is too busy trying to please everyone…..to no avail Reply | Report | Page Top Post #6 By itinerant, …………………………………. Re: Posts#5 and #6 above and the words written; Issue A) “The major problem is all the special interest groups and issues that come into play.” Also, Issue B) “I am not siding with the system at all, but I do know people in it.” And, Issue C) “There are so many policies and procedures that it really takes that long to come to trial.” Well, Mr. “Itinerant”, the law is the law and that includes the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law”.Re: Issue A) I would ask the writer “Itinerant” to define “special interest”, define, “come into play”; (just a couple of examples please) and how they precisely “obstruct justice”, “retard the process of the administration of justice” or “come into play”, as you imply. Re: Issue B) Please explain the relevance of you knowing people in “the system”. Is this supposed to give credibility to your assertions? Name the names of the “public officials, civil servants”, who have convinced you to believe what you assert. I mean, I can easily say I know a multitude of people “in the system”, who believe as I do, which is contrary to what you assert. Ask any of your cronies or other friends who know me; they will tell you if they think I know anyone “in the system” and “how high up and wide across”. But, does that really mean anything…who we know? I ask you, “Itinerant”, do you now or have you ever worked “in the system”, in the context you present here and do you have specific education, expertise, experience and knowledge about the “rules”, “regulations”, “time constraints”, “case management expectations”, “policies”, “protocols” etc.? Or, as I suspect, are you “blindly” relying on the “excuses”, “rationalizations”, “justifications” and “hearsay” of some possibly lazy, incompetent, or corrupt public servants or “assistants”, you meet at the “food court” in “The Square”? I suggest you are an ignorant and naïve, “wanna-be”, “straw man, surrogate” for some of these public servants and you are spreading inaccurate and misleading information, for whatever reason….. Re: Issue C) Again, your information is an example of how ignorant and naïve you are and how you have been “misled”. Or, perhaps your comments are simply, a further example of your deliberate attempt to mislead other readers. I implore you to name or reference some of the “policies” and “procedures” that “cause” it to, “take that long to come to trial.” May I be so bold as to suggest, that the rules, regulations, policies, procedures, time constraints, case management procedures, etc., etc. are readily available and accessible on the internet, for any reader to read and study. FURTHERMORE, the “foundation” so-to-speak; i.e.) rules, regulations, merit, expectations, time constraints, policies, procedure, case management protocol, etc., etc., for “timely” prosecution, among other things, are clearly defined and known by ALL lawyers and Justice in general. May I be so bold as to suggest, that it is my belief and understanding, that for various reasons, lawyers and other justice officials, their agents, representatives and court officials, arbitrarily and/or together, decide, when to “delay”, “retard the process” or basically when to use their power to “circumvent” “due process” and the existing rules, regulations, etc., as written above. So maybe “the practice” in some cases has been as you suggest, but that does not mean that the rules, laws, regulations, protocols, policies, etc., etc., were properly followed, in good faith and in the “interest of justice”. Boy, isn’t this a lot of “power”, in the hands of some lawyers and other Justice Officials? My, my, my, to be able to “practice” at will, disregarding and circumventing “Justice”. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT; there exist laws, yes LAWS, to defeat the attempts to dismiss prosecutions on the merit that is has taken too long to bring to trial. THERE are laws that “toll/stop” any time limitations. Read previous “S-F” letters to the editor. In or about 1998 I wrote about some of those laws and I also, predicted, what would happen and eventually did. Get the facts straight. Stop spreading the “hearsay” and misinformation you picked up at the picnic table beside “Tim’s” on Brookdale……get the picture!! Reply | Report | Page Top Post #7 By JAMES “SPEAK OUT”, |
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Blind eye to abuse shockingEditorial Cornwall Standard Freeholder 30 January 2009 Some startling evidence surfaced at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Wednesday that will no doubt make its way into Commissioner Normand Glaude’s final report on how institutions responded to allegations of sexual abuse. It came during examination of Jean-Paul Scott, retired school board superintendent and it speaks volumes about how not only the schools of the day dealt with sexual abuse complaints, but how society in general responded. Robert Sabourin taught at La Citadelle secondary school in the 1960s and 1970s. He abused countless young students, often right inside the school. Eventually he was charged by Cornwall police and convicted, but in a plea bargain deal received what amounted to a slap on the wrist — a relatively light jail sentence. His name surfaced during testimony by victims and alleged victims. On Wednesday the inquiry was told that Sabourin was provided with what amounted to as his private den, a darkroom complete with a locking device. How Sabourin operated so long with impunity is mindboggling. We learned Wednesday that even when the school principal learned of the shocking abuse allegations from Sabourin’s wife, who had discovered photos of nude boys taken by her husband, neither the police nor the Children’s Aid Society were contacted. There’s even doubt that the director of education was informed of the serious allegations. Scott testified that in a statement given to him by the principal, she said it never dawned on her to notify police. The good news is that since that time guidelines and laws have changed for the better when it comes to reporting suspected cases of abuse. Nevertheless, the evidence given Wednesday shows that society’s once out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude allowed pedophiles to run wild and let down a generation of abuse victims |
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Former teacher, 82, facing charges will return to court in FebruaryCornwall Standard Freeholder 21 December 2007 (Staff) – An 82-year-old former teacher charged with a historical sexual assault on a male student was a no-show in court Thursday. Robert Sabourin, a now-retired Ecole Secondaire La Citadelle teacher, was charged with indecent assault on a male and gross indecency. The student is believed to have been between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of the alleged incidents, which would have allegedly occurred between September 1974 and June 1978. Sabourin, who now lives in St. Jerome, Que., is expected to return for another court appearance on Feb. 4. He was charged in by Cornwall Police in September. In 1999, Sabourin was convicted of similar crimes and was sent to jail for just under two years. Two of Sabourin’s victims from the 1999 case have since testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry about the effects the abuse had on them as they were growing up. |
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Man says he was sexually abused by high school teacherCornwall Standard-Freeholder Friday, February 09, 2007 – 10:00 Terri Saunders Local News – It was the mid-1970s when a single act set in motion a series of difficult events for a city man. He was attending high school at Ecole Secondaire La Citadelle and found himself being taught photography by Robert Sabourin, one of the school’s teachers. At one point when he was around 14 or 15, the man was in a car with the teacher when he was offered something hardly any boy his age could resist. “He asked me if I wanted to drive,” the man told the Cornwall Public Inquiry Thursday. “I said, ‘Sure.'” The two switched places and before long they were going down the road. But the joy at being behind the wheel of a car quickly faded when Sabourin got too close. “He said he was worried about us having an accident, so he put his hand on the bottom part of the steering wheel,” the man said. “He was touching my thigh. “That’s when I said it was too dangerous and I stopped driving.” The man, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified during an in-camera hearing Thursday. The public were excluded from the room and the Internet broadcast of proceedings was suspended as the man told his story of two encounters with Sabourin. The inquiry has already heard from two other men who were abused by the teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a number of young people and was sentenced in April 1999 to two years less one day in jail. It was not too long after the car ride with Sabourin another incident occurred, the man told the commission. After finding photographic negatives in a garbage can in the school’s photography lab in which the young teenager was naked, the teacher made a deal with his student. Also on the roll of film were photos of the boy’s mother and Sabourin suggested if the negatives got into the wrong hands, the boy’s mother might be questioned about the naked pictures of her son. “He said he could see my penis (in the photographs) and then he asked if he could see it,” said the man. “It didn’t leave me much of a choice.” The man said Sabourin masturbated him then gave him $2 and told him not to tell anyone. But the man says he did eventually tell school authorities and a priest. He said the school authorities asked him if he was willing to testify in court about what happened and when he said he wasn’t, he was told the matter could go no further. In speaking with the priest, the man said he felt as if he were the one who’d done something wrong. “(The priest) asked me specifics of what had happened,” the man said. “He said Robert Sabourin had not hurt me and if I told anyone it would ruin ‘a good man’s reputation.'” The man said he did eventually speak with police about the incidents and he did receive a financial settlement in regards to the abuse. “I guess I was trying to put it behind me,” said the man. The man’s testimony is expected to continue when the inquiry resumes Feb. 19 |
Former teacher, 82, facing charges will return to court in February
Cornwall Standard Freeholder
21 December 2007
(Staff) – An 82-year-old former teacher charged with a historical sexual assault on a male student was a no-show in court Thursday.
Robert Sabourin, a now-retired Ecole Secondaire La Citadelle teacher, was charged with indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.
The student is believed to have been between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of the alleged incidents, which would have allegedly occurred between September 1974 and June 1978.
Sabourin, who now lives in St. Jerome, Que., is expected to return for another court appearance on Feb. 4. He was charged in by Cornwall Police in September.
In 1999, Sabourin was convicted of similar crimes and was sent to jail for just under two years.
Two of Sabourin’s victims from the 1999 case have since testified at the Cornwall Public Inquiry about the effects the abuse had on them as they were growing up.