A sexual predator who randomly sexually attacked several women in parks has admitted to disturbing behavior that will need to be ‘debunked’ before a sentence is handed down.
• Read also: Arrested for sexually assaulting five women
• Read also: Sexual assault at the Duchesnay tourist resort: a witness wanted by the police
In the winter of 2022, the presence of a man who attacked two women outdoors at the Duchesnay tourist resort created a wave of concern.
Despite the threat taken very seriously by the Sûreté du Québec, it took several months for Mathieu Arsenault to finally be put out of harm’s way.
A first event occurred in March when a lady who accompanied young cross-country skiers in Duchesnay was stopped by a man who asked for directions.
Without warning, the 28-year-old approached the woman who wanted to help him, cupping her face to kiss her.
The 43-year-old victim, who was accompanied by a teenager, had extricated himself from the arms of the attacker and had fled to report the event to the authorities.
A second, much more serious sexual assault, however, occurred on the cross-country ski trails of Duchesnay regarding ten days later.
In the middle of the forest, the man had intercepted a cross-country skier to ask her the way. Without warning, the stranger had tried to kiss the 57-year-old lady who fell to the ground.
Arsenault then lowered the lady’s pants and inserted a finger into her private parts. In an attempt to get out of the clutches of her attacker, the latter had offered Arsenault to masturbate him, which he accepted. The victim ran with his mitts on until he saw other cross country skiers approaching and screaming for help.
The same day, the predator had also attacked another woman, owner of a stable, to whom he had gone on the pretext of buying firewood. The woman had pushed him away with a shovel.
During the same period, an associate of the accused also filed a complaint once morest him following he had been the victim of an assault. Invited by his victim to watch a movie, Arsenault had been insistent on getting closer, but the woman had refused.
“I’m going to show you that I can have whatever I want,” said the accused, holding the struggling lady’s hands. It was the dog of the latter who, growling, had stopped the aggression finally presented as an assault.
The media coverage of the sexual predator then allowed a victim assaulted for free in a Lévis park in June 2022 to identify Mathieu Arsenault. Once once more, the predator had kissed him claiming to have found keys.
A sugar bush owner who had hired Arsenault in January 2022 to work, but who had also been assaulted by the accused while she was with him in the woods, filed a complaint.
The 28-year-old pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of assault. The latter has no history and his lawyer, Me Stéphanie Pelletier-Quirion has requested a pre-sentence report to “demystify” this “isolated” episode in Arsenault’s life.
He will therefore return in December for representations on sentencing, he who has been incarcerated since June.
List of attacks by Mathieu Arsenault:
January 7, 2022 :
27 year old female
In a maple grove in St-Raymond-de-Portneuf
Hit in the buttocks and thighs
February 9, 2022 :
30 year old woman
Accused’s attendance
In Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures
Assault
19 mars 2022 :
43 year old woman
At the Duchesnay tourist resort in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier,
tries to kiss her by taking her face
April 1, 2022 :
57 year old woman
At the Duchesnay tourist resort in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier,
takes off her pants and inserts a finger in her private parts
April 1, 2022
64 year old woman
In a Quebec stable
Tries to kiss her, she defends herself with a shovel
June 5, 2022 :
39 year old female
Les Écarts Park in Lévis
Try to kiss her
