1y ago

No jail time for Hamilton police officer who sexually assaulted woman he was mentoring, judge rules

www.cbc.ca /news/canada/hamilton/michael-lacombe-sex-assault-1.7195412

A former Hamilton police officer will not go to jail for sexually assaulting the woman he was mentoring as she pursued her own career in policing.

Michael LaCombe, 54, will instead serve 12 months of house arrest followed by 12 months of probation after Justice Cameron Watson found him guilty of two counts of sexual assault in January, following a trial.

Watson sentenced LaCombe on Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Ont., describing his crimes and the aftermath as "a spectacular and cataclysmic fall from grace" in his written decision.

"His life has taken an irreparable downward spiral. He is no longer the man he once was," Watson wrote.

Watson also described how LaCombe's conduct "devastated" the victim, who has felt isolated and suffers from panic attacks, among other impacts, in recent years.

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"His life has taken an irreparable downward spiral. He is no longer the man he once was," Watson wrote.
That is not a valid reason to allow a rapist to escape jail time.
ACAB
- But what if he's super duper sorry??? /s
  Fuck this "his downfall was his punishment," shit.
  
  That's what we get when we have a punishment system, rather than a justice system. This guy has had his feel bad, so everyone's square!
  Public safety? No thank you! We're here to trade mildly reduced visual clarity for an eye!
- But the judge said he wouldn't face jail time before hearing both sides. That's pretty normal. /s
- Sexual assault, yes. Rape, no.
  He removed her shirt and bra and kissed her without consent. No intercourse (including the standard variants thereof) occurred. She protested, and he drove her home.
  That's basic sexual assault based on the legal definitions (there are two higher definitions for using weapons or causing bodily harm) and there is no legal minimum for basic sexual assault (of an adult)
  
  The pig should be in jail, and you shouldn't be making excuses for him.
  
  iT's OnLy RaPe If He GoT hIs DiCk WeT
  Dear god. Listen to yourself.
  Like, straight up, if you're playing apologetics for a fucking cop who sexually assaulted someone by trying to well-akshually rape, you need to deeply probe your motivations there. Because I promise you, you don't have good ones.
  
  OK then, attempted rapist
  
  Exactly, I've had my dick grabbed/felt up, and had people try to strip me. It's assault, not rape.
  Both are bad and should be punished, but one is way worse. By calling all sexual assaults rape, it almost feels like it's eroding the word "rape" to something lesser.
  This predator needs to be punished.
  
  That's exploiting a power dynamic to force themself sexually on an unwilling person. That's rape. Laws don't define words, it does not matter what the definition of the crime of the same name is, that woman was raped.
American here: your cops are above the law, too? 😑
- Seems to be a universal theme.
This man’s rape conviction has ruined his life, that is punishment enough. -A lot of judges apparently
Cut to this man being hired at another department while he under house arrest. He gets work release and bam, rapist cop back out on the street, even while on probation.
- He will rape again.
We want the same penalties for everyone who commits a crime. It should never matter what the criminals job is nor how much money they make. The same penalties should apply to EVERYONE!!!!
- Unfortunately this is consistent with other sexual assault sentences here. From what I've seen anyway. Purely anecdotal. Raped and ruined your own children and complicated their lives for all time? 8 months for you. And out for good behaviour in 4. Justice served /s
- In most cases yes. However in the cases of fines poor people are more penalized than wealthy, so there should be some proportional consideration there.
  
  Just use a percentage. X% of net worth would be interesting.
"... He is no longer the man he once was."
Pretty sure that's not true. I can't imagine any ethical, sane person waking up one morning and thinking to themselves "you know, I think I will try a little raping today!"
- He is different in the way that he used to be a rapist, now he's a rapist that's been caught but didn't get legal any consequences.
  Hope ge gets social ones at least, everyone around him knowing what he is.
Aww the poor rapist /s
Not too much of a shock.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Watson sentenced LaCombe on Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Ont., describing his crimes and the aftermath as "a spectacular and cataclysmic fall from grace" in his written decision.
"I understand and have no doubt this has destroyed his life and he's suffering a form of exquisite agony and to keep the sword hanging over his head — not knowing what's going to happen — in my opinion, as a fellow human being, is unnecessary," Watson said.
She feels isolated at work as a police officer, suffers from panic attacks and has developed a "strong fear and distrust of men," Watson wrote.
After Watson found him guilty, LaCombe resigned from the police service — before a disciplinary hearing was held — and he was discharged from the military, of which he'd been a member for decades.
Watson determined LaCombe didn't deserve incarceration for his crimes because he's led a life of "exemplary service," has no prior criminal record and is remorseful, according to his written decision.
"This offence involved his ham-fisted attempt to engage in an extra marital affair with a friend, albeit with an extremely serious impact on [the victim]," Watson wrote.
The original article contains 905 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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