Victim?

Belgian sentenced to 20 months for luring Montreal girl

SIDHARTHA BANERJEE
The Canadian Press
July 24, 2008 at 3:29 PM EDT

MONTREAL — A Belgian man who pursued a forbidden love affair with a 13-year-old girl and travelled to Canada to start a life with her was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in jail.

Vincent Raphael Duval, 32, listened intently as he was sentenced by Quebec court Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin, who acknowledged that Mr. Duval's case was different than that of Internet predators who use the web to stalk young girls strictly for sexual purposes.

Still, Justice Bonin said the court had concluded that jail time was necessary.
Mr. Duval has told the court it was love that drove him to sell his possessions and move to Canada with designs on starting a life with the teen.

Mr. Duval pleaded guilty to six charges including kidnapping, sexual interference, sexual touching and three counts of luring with a computer less than a week after being arrested in a Montreal hotel.

The Crown was seeking at least five years in prison for the native of Liege, while the defence had countered with a suggestion of 12 to 18 months in jail.
Defence lawyer Daniel Lighter expressed satisfaction with the sentence handed down.

“(The judge) distinguished between this being a typical child pornography or pedophilia case with what it was — which was a very poor example of judgment on the part of Mr. Duval,” said Mr. Lighter.

Crown prosecutor Nathalie Fafard declined to comment.

In her sentencing arguments, she had implored the judge to send a message to Canadian society and the international community at-large that Mr. Duval's actions were unacceptable.

Ms. Fafard told the judge there weren't any similar cases in Canadian legal annals and that most luring cases tried in Canada have involved undercover police officers posing as children, with no real victims.

But Mr. Duval's lawyers stuck with the notion that their client was simply a love-struck 30-something who fell in love with someone he thought was older than her 13 years and was unable to shake that resolve, following his heart rather than his head when he discovered her true identity.

A chance meeting on a virtual dance web site in October 2007, with the girl posing as a 26-year-old female, began the eight-month love affair.

The relationship blossomed over e-mail and chats — more than 6,000 missives between the pair through Hotmail accounts — until the girl's mother caught wind of what her daughter was up to in February when she received an astronomical cellular phone bill.

About halfway into the courtship, the girl's mother called Mr. Duval and told him to leave her daughter alone. It was just before that when the girl revealed to Mr. Duval she was 13.

But the attempt to thwart the relationship only intensified it and the court heard that the pair had hatched an elaborate plan to move to an Amish settlement in Ontario where they felt they would not be bothered.

Mr. Duval purchased a one-way plane ticket and arrived from Belgium on June 12 with his entire savings — $3,200 — all his clothes, a laptop, webcam, cellular telephone and no credit card.

They eventually met up the following day before the mother reported the girl missing, prompting a city-wide manhunt until a hotel clerk recognized Mr. Duval in the wee hours of June 14.

Montreal police caught Mr. Duval in bed with the girl at a St-Hubert Street hotel in a dingy neighbourhood near the Montreal bus station.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080724.wlured0724/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080724.wlured0724

Now, I'm not making excuses for the conduct of this man. What he did was a criminal action, and I agree that he should be punished (whether or not I agree with the sentence handed down I have not decided yet). However, and this is what bothers me:

I really disagree with the way that the news is portraying this case, with regards to him "luring" this girl. This girl is not innocent in this. She LIED and said she was 26 and kept up the ruse for months. He did not go looking, from what I understand, FOR a 13 year old girl, he happened to meet a woman who turned out to be a 13 year old girl. Should he have cut things off when he found out? Yes, certainly. But, how is this all his fault as the media is portraying?

Why should I view this girl as a victim of a ravening pedophile? Why should this girl be held unaccountable for her part in this? She's young, but 13 is not 3. She was fully complicit according to what the media is saying, so why is she a victim when she's the one who started out lying to this man?

She's just as guilty as he is. Maybe not legally, but certainly ethically.

C.

And why is the mother not being held accountable for being negligent enough for this to happen?

C.

I agree with that. I don't even remotely believe that she was a victim. She lied to HIM. He was unwise, but she was initially to blame because of her lies.

I completly agree. I think he should have stopped when he found out her age, but he did not go looking fora 13 yr old.

i agree.... i see him as the victim... however, he should haveput asidehis emotions and used a bit of (what the majority of the nation lacks) common sense.

I completely agree with your stance on this.

I think he is more of a victim than she is. Poor guy.

Hmm ethically yes she is. She was the child in the situation however. He should have had nothing to do with her after he realized she was a 13 year old child posing as a 26 year old woman. She shouldn't have lied but he made a huge mistake. He shouldn't have ran away with her whenhe knew full and well that she was 13 years old. I'm not saying that she didn't do anything wrong but he is the adult in the situation he should have used his brain better.

wow...
yes i think he is as much as a victom as she is 
she lied and he trusted her.....

Yep, I'd say she's at just as much fault as he; the difference being the law is on her side.

Quoting Pirate Tink *G*I*G*:“ I agree with that. I don't even remotely believe that she was a victim. She lied to HIM. He was unwise, but she was initially to blame because of her lies.”

  That's exactly what I was thinking. And I think her mother should be prosecuted for allowing it to go on, when she obviously knew.

She is guilty of lying to him, no doubt. She knew what she was doing and, frankly, it's deplorable. It's unfortunate that she won't be suffering any consequences in all of that.

As far as the man himself, I believe he's guilty of outright stupidity. When he found out she was 13, he should have moved on. Common sense should have told him to let it go, no matter how hurt he was.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with the sentence he receieved. Part of me says he knew he was having sex with a 13 year old girl when it happened, he wasn't still under the illusion that she was 26. He knew what he was doing was illegal and should have to suffer the consequences of that.

There is another part of me that feels like it's a bit harsh to penalize the man for following his heart, rather than his head.

She did lie to him. I think that was wrong. However, he knew she was 13 years old when he decided to fly to her. I don't think that he lured her in anyway, but I think that he should have been more responsible for his actions.

He didn't go persuing a 13 yr old. He went after a "woman" he believed to be twice of age. However when that fact that she was indeed a 13 year old child, he should have stopped. In my opinion the mother should be also to blame. She knew of the "affair" and did nothing? She said she was 13 but what did she do?

Quoting God:“ Belgian sentenced to 20 months for luring Montreal girl SIDHARTHA BANERJEE The Canadian ... [snip!] ... the one who started out lying to this man? She's just as guilty as he is. Maybe not legally, but certainly ethically. C.”

This is why I believe children should not be allowed to use the computer unsupervised.