serial sex offender drops out of parole-board hearing at last minute
jacques groleau sexually assaulted or tried to sexually assault five women in plateau-mont-royal between 2008 and 2010.
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a screenshot from security camera footage shows jacques groleau, who is serving a sentence of a little more than 14 years that he received in 2011 for sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault five women.
photo: montreal police
a serial sex offender who has destroyed the lives of many women since the early 1980s decided at the last minute to not take part in his hearing before the parole board of canada scheduled for tuesday. jacques groleau, 63, is serving a sentence of a little more than 14 years that he received in 2011 for sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault five women in plateau-mont-royal between 2008 and 2010.
in july, groleau reached another statutory release date and the parole board was only left to decide what types of conditions to impose on him. the board decided groleau should be released to a halfway house so he could be closely monitored.
groleau automatically qualified for the release despite how, in november 2023, a psychological evaluation concluded he represented an average risk of reoffending. according to a written summary of the decision made in july, the risk would have been assessed as higher “if the variable of age was not considered.”
on tuesday, parole board member evans bédard informed two women who were victims of groleau’s horrible crimes — one in 2009 and the other in 1986 — and who were following the hearing that groleau was recently returned to a penitentiary and that tuesday’s hearing was scheduled to determine whether the suspension of his statutory release should be maintained.
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the two women then delivered detailed statements describing how groleau’s crimes affected their lives for years. they spoke for a total of nearly 90 minutes.
bédard said the board will still make a decision on the suspension of groleau’s release soon.
both women spoke to the gazette after the hearing and said they were disappointed that no mention was made of what groleau did to warrant being returned to a penitentiary.
“i was disappointed because it was information we should have had before in order to prepare our statements,” said the woman who was sexually assaulted while groleau held a knife to her throat in 1986 just hours after he escaped from the cowansville institution, a penitentiary in the eastern townships.
“it’s unacceptable. i think that criminals are allowed to see our statements before (they are read). so we should have the right to know what (caused groleau to be incarcerated again). it’s another aspect of the system that needs to be improved.”
during the hearing, the woman reminded the board that groleau continued on a crime spree and sexually assaulted another woman in an alley just hours after he attacked her.
“i fear that the decision you will make will deny my existence as a victim and a survivor,” said the woman, while describing groleau as a predator with no sympathy. “i fear that you will underestimate my need for protection in the face of this monster who in 40 years has not changed and does not have the capacity for rehabilitation.”
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the other woman who delivered a statement during the hearing said she was doing so to “prevent a fourth generation of women” from becoming groleau’s victims. groleau was first convicted of rape in 1982.
in march 2009, groleau followed the woman into the elevator in the plateau apartment building where she lived. he began a conversation with her and pretended to be looking for an apartment to rent.
“then he asked if i lived alone. i said no and i began to feel that something was wrong,” the woman told the board. she said that as the elevator continued upward he pointed a firearm at her face and told her: “shut up or i will kill you.”
when they reached the sixth floor, she said, groleau grabbed her coat and pushed her out.
“i was convinced i was going to die. i felt immense fear,” she said, adding she managed to get away from him and made it to her apartment on the 16th floor, where she called 911.
she said the traumatic event left her unable to return to her apartment and caused her to abandon a career she adored.
“i needed a big bubble of security, so i rarely left my house except for the essentials. to go outside was hell for me and i had panic attacks each time,” she said, adding she consulted a psychologist for help.
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she also said the montreal police only informed her they had arrested the man who pointed a gun at her face after groleau pleaded guilty in 2011 to several offences at the montreal courthouse. it was then, she said, that she learned groleau sexually assaulted women after he threatened her.
groleau’s sentence will expire on dec. 14, 2025. he was declared a long-term offender when he was sentenced, and the parole board of canada can impose surveillance conditions on him for a period of 10 years after his sentence comes to an end.
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