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Ex-PQ legislator Harold LeBel sentenced to eight months in jail for sex assault

Jan 26, 2023 | 9:16 AM

RIMOUSKI, Que. — Former Parti Québécois legislator Harold LeBel has been sentenced to eight months in jail for sexually assaulting a woman at his residence in 2017.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Serge Francoeur accepted the joint sentence recommendation made today by the prosecution and defence at the courthouse in Rimouski, Que.

LeBel will also serve two years probation, be banned from contacting the victim and be registered as a sex offender for 20 years.

His victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, said during his trial that he joined her in a bed at his condo in 2017 and repeatedly touched her sexually for several hours without her consent.

A jury of nine women and three men took two days to reach a decision last November.

LeBel was a member of the Quebec legislature from 2014 to 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.

The Canadian Press