By Canadian Press

Quebec singer Luck Mervil gets community sentence for sexual exploitation

May 23, 2018 | 12:45 PM

MONTREAL — Well-known Quebec singer Luck Mervil was given a six-month sentence in the community Wednesday for the sexual exploitation of a 17-year-old girl in 1996.

The sentence is exactly what the defence and the Crown jointly recommended last week.

Mervil, 50, was arrested in 2014 and charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation but they were changed to two counts of sexual exploitation before the Crown dropped one of the charges.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month.

Mervil, who was 28 years old at the time of the crime, held a position of authority over the teen.

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He acknowledged he had complete sexual relations with her without obtaining her consent. Several other sexual contacts took place over a 10-year-old period. 

Mervil will serve the first three months of the sentence at home, but be allowed to go to work, accompany his young son to his mother’s place and attend medical appointments.

He can also spend three hours shopping, once a week.

The last three months he will be subject to a curfew between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. That will be followed by a year’s probation.

Mervil will also be added to a registry of sexual delinquents for 20 years and have to supply a DNA sample.

When he left the courtroom, he again offered an apology to the woman who filed the complaint against him.

“It takes courage and she did it,” Mervil told reporters. “That’s fine.” 

He said he hopes she will be able to get on with her life.

Mervil also added some comments in a video on YouTube.

“If this sad story can serve at least to bring a positive change in the behaviour of men toward women. . .  if this can improve society, well, at least something positive would have come out of it,” he said.

Quebec court Judge Melanie Hebert analyzed the attenuating and aggravating circumstances and noted the crime was committed against a minor over whom Mervil was in a position of authority.

She highlighted the consequences on the victim such as the loss of self-esteem, the fact she gave up school and the difficult relations she had with family and friends.

But she also noted the guilty plea meant the victim did not have to testify and that the legal process has come to a definite end.

The victim’s name has been under a publication ban and she testified last week she was traumatized at losing her virginity to the artist and felt completely at his mercy.

Stephanie Marin , The Canadian Press