Man re-arrested after sexually assaulting sisters

A Hanover man appeared in St-Pierre-Jolys court on June 25 and was re-arrested following confusion with documentation.

The man, who is being charged with sexual interference can’t be named to protect the identity of the victims, which are two of his sisters.

RCMP arrested the man on Nov. 18 and was later released on an undertaking.

Judge Rachel Rusen, Crown attorney Thomas Boult and defence attorney Chelsea Suderman agreed that for the hearing to continue, the defendant to be re-arrested for proper documentation.

Rusen said he would need to re-sign paperwork to be re-added to the court schedule for his trial, which should be in the fall.

“This is very unusual your honour,” said Boult. “I don’t think this has happened before.”

Rusen also made it clear that it wasn’t the defendant’s fault for the mix-up, and that he didn’t do anything further wrong.

The hearing has been moved to July 23, in St-Pierre-Jolys.

The older victim, who is four years younger than the defendant, said that the interference happened in one of the family home’s bedrooms. It happened many times over the course of a year before she started to gain enough courage to confront him.

The younger victim was interfered with in a barn, during a round of hide-and-seek.

According to the agreed upon facts of the case, all instances had the defendant, who was a minor at the time, exposing himself to his sisters, and touching them inappropriately. Some of the acts involved the defendant undressing them before interfering.

The defendant entered a guilty plea, which is for a no-contact order with his sisters, except for mediation and therapy, which has been agreed to by Child and Family Services.

There is also a request for an exception for him to be able to attend the graduation of one of the sisters he had interfered with as early as January 2017.