A former Montreal high school counsellor was handed an unprecedented sentence of 18 years Wednesday morning for sexually exploiting a young girl from the time she was 8 to when she was 11 years old. Sylvain Villemaire, 60, was found guilty earlier this year of sexually exploiting a minor, human trafficking and possessing child pornography. The court heard how Villemaire brought an eight-year-old girl from a country in Africa to Quebec on a student visa and sexually abused her for three years, from 2015 to 2018. CBC News is not naming the country the girl came from because her identity is under a publication ban. For 27 years, Villemaire worked in Montreal high schools as a psychoeducator, an umbrella term used in Quebec for counselling roles in educational settings.

Source: CBC News August 18, 2021 15:46 UTC