A Quebec Superior Court judge has found a former West Island baseball coach guilty of sexual interference and sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy.
Josée Bélanger ruled Friday that Robert Litvack violated the teen’s integrity.
Litvack was accused of massaging the boy’s legs and exposed buttocks without parental consent. The 13-year-old, whose identity is protected, felt uncomfortable and eventually told his parents.
Litvack’s defence lawyer argued that the massages were to relieve muscle pain in the legs and Litvack had testified that the massages weren’t “a big deal.”
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But Bélanger didn’t agree, saying the accused never had the parents’ consent and that Litvack wasn’t a massage therapist.
”The fact that he did not tell the parents about what was going on and the nature of the touching itself, given all the circumstances in the case, she concluded that there was a sexual purpose to the touching,” Crown prosecutor Camille Boucher told reporters Friday after the guilty verdict was handed down.
”I think it sends a message of trust and confidence about the judicial process. I mean, we hear a lot about it lately, in the last years, and I think that it shows that sometimes if we get involved in the process it can lead to some results.”
Litvack made no comment as he left the courtroom following the ruling.
He is a former coach with the Lac Saint-Louis baseball league. Litvack was hired several years ago to help the teen improve his game in one-on-one sessions.
Litvack was charged in 2021.
”Although it takes time, also, it’s not easy, there can be results at the end,” Boucher said.
Litvack is scheduled to return to court at the end of September, when a date will be set for his sentence.
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