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.ca
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      6 months ago

      I’m not making excuses, I’m being specific and correct. Rape (which isn’t defined in the Canadian criminal code) has a very clear definition understood by the public (and defined in law elsewhere) as requiring penetration of some sort.

      You’re actually defaming him (and therefore guilty of libel under Canadian Criminal law) for accusing him of something which is not true and could harm his reputation further.

      In your opinion, how many years of jail should be given to someone who kisses another person without their consent? Or does that part of this situation not warrant jail time? Should there be a mandatory minimum for any form of sexual assault? How many years then for the more serious offence of removing someone’s shirt and bra without their consent?

      • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        who kisses another person without their consent

        You are seriously are doubling down on defending people who sexually assault people. No consent is assault and that can get you jail time.

        The pig was in a position of power and is supposed to be better than the average person.

        I’m not defaming him, as it’s my opinion that he is a pig and deserves jail time for his actions.

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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        6 months ago

        I’m being specific and correct.

        You’re being pedantic. Caring more about the rules of language than the fact a woman’s life has been decimated by a rapey cop doesn’t help your argument.

          • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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            6 months ago

            And placing your perception of language over and above that of a woman whose life has been devastated by a fucking cop.

            Maybe you could place what happened as more important than the specific language used.

            • lazynooblet@lazysoci.al
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              6 months ago

              I think you’re missing the point. The law needs to be specific. It describes levels of criminal activity and in this case details how the law differentiates between what the law calls “rape” and “sexual assault”.

              Sure, from our perspective that girl got raped, and that’s how I would describe it. But the law doesn’t.

              • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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                6 months ago

                The point of this thread is that a cop got off charges with a slap on the wrist. It is not, and never was, about what he did as much as he faces exactly zero consequences.

                • Maalus@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  He got 12 months house arrest and 12 months probation after that. That’s not “zero consequences”.

        • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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          6 months ago

          If writing fictional stories about teenagers having sex should result in being a sex offender, why is George R. R. Martin allowed in Canada? Game of Thrones (the books) have multiple graphic passages about the rape of minors, Sansa was 12 years old in the books. Even in the show, which aired in Canada, she was still underage.

          Your logic is flawed, writing fictional stories shouldn’t be a criminal offense, and even with it being illegal in Canada it isn’t applied equally.

          Rape is sexual assault, sexual assault is not always rape. Just like an apple is a fruit, but not all fruits are apples.

          Words matter, and yours aren’t correct. They don’t align with legal definitions in countries that define rape, with the common dictionary definitions, or with the common public understanding of the word.

        • blargerer@kbin.social
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          6 months ago

          No its not. Rape is a subcategory of Sexual Assault not the other way around. What this guy did was wrong. He is (probably) facing too light of a punishment for it (article says the crown wanted double). I’m just not an expert on these matters at all. But he didn’t rape her. Period.