A man who tried to run down his ex-girlfriend and her new partner outside her Rockland-area home four years ago will be released from jail in 10 days, after serving the equivalent of a 3 1/2-year prison sentence.
On Friday, Sebastien Normandin, 50, pleaded guilty in Victoria provincial court to two charges of aggravated assault.
Judge Adrian Brooks accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence asking for two 42-month sentences to be served concurrently, followed by three years of probation.
During the sentencing hearing, no mention was made of the fact that Normandin fled to France after being released on bail in May 2017, was arrested the following year and was extradited to Canada last fall.
Normandin was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, criminal harassment and assault of his ex-girlfriend in 2014 and assault causing bodily harm to her in 2015. Those charges have now been stayed.
Crown prosecutor Jess Patterson told the court that Normandin’s offence arose from a failed relationship with his ex-girlfriend, whose identity is protected by a court order. They were together from 2012 until June 2015.
“The relationship can be described as tumultuous and unhealthy and one that involved some allegations of threatening behaviour and violence which culminated in December 2016,” said Patterson.
Normandin became obsessed with trying to rekindle their relationship. He stalked her, showing up at her store and her house, and the police became involved, said Patterson.
Just before 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2016, Normandin was in his parked car with the engine running, backed into a driveway, when his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend arrived at her home on Gillespie Place.
“Mr. Normandin was sitting there in wait. He sent a text message saying: ‘For some reason, I’m sitting in front of [her] house. The lights are on. I feel like I’m about to make a big mistake,’ ” Patterson recounted.
The couple went into the house for a little while before leaving and walking toward her car, which was parked on the street. The woman opened the driver’s side door, then began kissing her boyfriend at the side of her car.
Normandin revved his car and drove it directly at the couple, said Patterson. Normandin struck the side of the car, narrowing missing them. The woman leaped through the open car door. The man jumped up and landed on the hood of Normandin’s car.
“Obviously, this action endangered their lives,” said Patterson.
After the collision, Normandin told police: “I saw them together and I just lost it. I just ran into them.”
It’s estimated that he was driving at a speed between 41 and 49 kilometres per hour when he struck his ex-girlfriend’s car.
Patterson said the 42-month sentence recognizes the fact that Normandin does not have a criminal record., but the incident was “very troubling” and occurred in the context of a broken-down relationship. “Those are aggravating factors,” he said.
Defence lawyer Jordan Watt said his client grew up in Montreal and moved to B.C. in 2006. Ten years later, he was living with his mother in Sooke.
Normandin, who has a master’s degree in history and philosophy from the University of Toronto and another in the history of medicine from McGill, has worked as an academic, teaching at Royal Roads and the University of Windsor, said Watt.
While he has struggled with depression, he has no other documented mental-health concerns, said the defence lawyer. When released, he will live with his mother.
Watt said Normandin’s guilty pleas have spared his victims the difficulty of coming to court, as well as saving the criminal justice system money. “They also indicate that Mr. Normandin is remorseful and has accepted responsibility, but most importantly, that he is taking the first few steps toward his eventual rehabilitation,” said Watt.
At the time of the incident, the couple told police they suffered no significant injuries. However, victim-impact statements submitted to the court tell a different story.
Brooks said the male victim “is now the one with the life sentence as a result of the serious physical injuries he continues to suffer,” adding: “After [the woman] expresses her fear of Mr. Normandin, she writes that ‘He has already stolen years of my life by giving me no choice but to focus on repair and recovery from his actions. I continue to feel the effect of his attack any moment of any day.’ It’s for those reasons that this significant penitentiary sentence for aggravated assault is placed before the court.”
The judge urged Normandin to comply with “every word” of his probation order. Normandin must have no contact with the victims and is prohibited from attending their schools, homes or places of work. If he comes across them, he must leave their presence without any words or gestures.
“It is critical not just to your rehabilitation, which is still very much an issue in this case, but in terms of the expectations of the community in light of the offences you have committed,” Brooks told Normandin.
He ordered Normandin to provide a sample of his DNA and to attend counselling or violence-prevention programming as directed by his probation officer, including forensic counselling. For the first six months of his probation, he must abide by a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
After Normandin fled to France in mid-October 2017, he began taunting authorities with posts on Facebook and Twitter. Interpol began searching for him, posting his photograph and physical details online.
Eventually, Victoria police found him by using tracking software and search warrants and he was arrested by the French authorities in September 2018.
Local investigators began the lengthy process of working with Interpol, the Department of Justice and the RCMP to secure Normandin’s extradition back to Canada to stand trial.
Normandin was charged with failing to report. Although France agreed to extradite him on the attempted-murder charges, the country refused to extradite him on the bail breach. That meant Canada could not try him on that charge.
The extradition took 12 months and involved court proceedings in France and authorization from the French prime minister.
Three Victoria police detectives flew to Paris to arrest Normandin and escort him back to Canada on Oct. 18, 2019.
“The Victoria Police Department and the Regional Domestic Violence Unit did an excellent job on this file, right from the initial investigation, up to locating Mr. Normandin in France after he fled the country and then ultimately bringing him back to Canada to face justice,” said Patterson.
