A 96 -year -old fallen doctor sentenced to 18 months in prison for having sexually assaulted five vulnerable women will not have been imprisoned for a long time because he has already obtained authorization to go out, even if he still denies his crimes.
“It seems obvious that, whatever the length of the incarceration, you will keep yourself in the denial of your actions. […] This situation, although deplorable, will not increase your risk of recurrence because of your current physical condition, “says the Quebec Conditional Liberations Commission (CQLC) in a decision rendered recently.
Ildebert Huard, the founder of the therapy house Villa Ignatia, in Lac-Saint-Charles, was sentenced in July 2024, for his sexual assault on five women between 2017 and 2019.
He took advantage of the vulnerability of women with dependencies admitted in his establishment.
“The victims experienced lasting and important consequences following your gestures, when they trust you to deal with their problems,” recalls the Commission.
Ildebert Huard was photographed at the Quebec courthouse on July 5, 2024.
Photo d’archives Pierre-Paul Biron
He still doesn’t understand
Ildebert Huard, “almost deaf and almost blind” at the time of his conviction, had brought the cause on appeal, but he lost it last May, so that he had to build up prisoner at that time.
He always minimizes his responsibility and the severity of his gestures, even going so far as to deny them, indicates the commission.
“Although this incarceration seems to have had a deterrent effect in your place, in particular because of your health problems, this element does not seem to have made you walk in your responsibility,” reads the decision.
The probation agent and the nonagenarian holder therefore recommended that the CQLC oppose this release.
But, emphasizing the health that deteriorates from Ildebert Huard, his advanced age as well as the absence of criminal history, the commission decided otherwise.
At the fifth of his sentence
Even if he only served the fifth of his sentence, mainly to the prison infirmary where he is detained, the sex assault will be able to get out of prison in order to prepare his parole.
Because, although he presents himself as the “victim of a conspiracy”, the risk of recurrence of the old man is “very weak”, explains the CQLC, which had to assess its dangerousness.
Since he is no longer in post at the clinic he founded in 1983, he “no longer has ascendant on people in a situation of vulnerability”, affirms the commission by stressing however that “minor people are likely to be in [son] entourage».
Because man has several grandchildren and “adults of [son] entourage are rather comforting in [sa] version of the facts, ”says the CQLC.
“You will not have spent a lot of time behind bars, but you will have to bring the weight of your gestures for the years to come and there is no doubt that the media coverage of your gestures has reached your image, which is important for you,” said the Commission, imposing “strict conditions” to ensure that he will not be able to make new victims, whose ban on being alone in the presence of vulnerable people.
