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.

  • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.caEnglish
    297·
    2 months ago

    He attempted to have an affair. The fact that he stopped when she protested and drove her home instead indicates he didn’t attempt or intend to rape her. He still absolutely committed sexual assault though which is why he was found guilty. Consent for any sort of sexual encounter needs to come first, not during or after, and removing someone’s shirt and bra definitely requires consent.

    When dealing with situations like this, it’s important to be very clear and precise. There’s unfortunately a lot of actual rapes that occur, and they shouldn’t be muddied by situations where someone calls rape when it isn’t leading to people downplaying real rapes.

    It’s the same reason I don’t like seeing people put on the sex offender list for public urination just because it happened near a school (even if there were no youth there at the time) or like the case of a man that got put on the list just a couple years ago for writing a short sexual story (completely fictional) simply because it contained teenagers who weren’t 18 yet.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
      1014·
      2 months ago

      Later that month, LaCombe “contrived another opportunity to meet” and picked the victim up in his own car, without initially telling her where they were going, and brought her to a hotel, Paquette said.

      He kidnapped her and took her to a hotel room.

      In the room, he handed her a dress he bought from Value Village, and she went into the washroom but didn’t change into it, the defence said. When she emerged, LaCombe picked her up without her consent, pulled her on top of him, took off her top and bra and kissed her.

      Then he wants her to dress up for him AGAINST HER WILL.

      • knatschus
        146·
        2 months ago

        What you do is dangerous and can be harmfull for victims. With blowing up the severity of cases like this, you reduce the the severity of kidnapping and rape cases in the minds of people reading your claims.

        She wasn’t beaten up and dragged into his car, that’s what i imagine when i think of kidnapping and it should stay that way.

        • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
          2·
          2 months ago

          Taking someone to a place under false pretenses. Then telling her to change into clothes that she didn’t want to wear. Then sexually assaulting her.

          That definitely sounds like kidnapping and attempted rape to me. Just because she was let go doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a crime.

        • jerkface@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          11 days ago

          He used his authority and position in the community to sexually exploit someone who was vulnerable and IN HIS FUCKING CARE BECAUSE THEY WERE A VULNERABLE PERSON. You’re being such an asshole right now, how can you not understand that.

          When there is a power dynamic, what might in another context be a simple conflict between two equal people completely changes in nature.