A young pimp who turned a teenage girl into a sex slave, going so far as to spread videos of her being assaulted at gunpoint, was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison.
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“There were many shocking facts in the file, the 17-year-old was exploited for several days. Luckily the police were able to trace them to a hotel room,” commented the Crown’s Me Antonio Parapuf shortly after Benjamin Dion’s sentencing.
Dion, now 22, was barely of legal age when he committed his crime. After targeting a 17-year-old teenager, he quickly forced her into prostitution.
“She had faith in him, he took the opportunity to take advantage of her,” recalled Me Parapuf, who led the case with Me Claude Berlinguette
Thus, with the help of his accomplice Steve Bédard, Dion sent the victim through hell by, among other things, forcing her to accept sexual practices that she did not want in order to “practice” them.
“The accused are demonstrating [à la victime] that they exert physical, emotional and psychological coercion on him. […] She is in a state of great vulnerability,” said Judge Alexandre St-Onge.
A video posted online showed her mimicking sexual gestures with a gun in her mouth, while another showed her being beaten by Bédard in order to “lower her for better exploitation”. The weapon turned out to be an air pistol.
At one point, 28-year-old Bédard even offered his accomplice to “buy” the victim for up to $10,000, but Bédard declined.
The teenager, who was seized at the Hotel Chablis in east Montreal, was eventually rescued by the Montreal Police Force’s tactical intervention group, commonly known as SWAT.
Dion and Bedard admitted to producing and distributing child pornography of the victim. They were subsequently convicted on a range of charges including human trafficking and sexual assault with a firearm.
But if Bédard still has to wait for the verdict’s pleadings, Dion finally agreed with the Crown to propose the judge a 7-year prison sentence.
In view of the preventive detention, he still has a little more than 5 years to serve.