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“It was important for the community to know her name. This is part of justice. She can no longer hide. ”
Jonathan Lepage, 35, and his brother Sean have successfully applied for the lifting of a court ban on publishing the identities of their mother, Julie Menard, who was convicted of sexually assaulting them when they were children. Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia
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Julie Menard, a longtime bus driver in Ottawa, could have spent her years in obscurity, in a routine life, no matter how anxious, if not for her own brave sons, who discovered her as a child predator.
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Menard, 54, was jailed last week for 10 years for assaulting and sexually exploiting her eldest son, Jonathan Lepage, for five years of incest when he was a child.
The brothers, Jonathan and Sean Lepage, did not think it was fair because their mother’s identity was protected by a ban on publication, which they successfully lifted in court on Friday.
Photo by Julie Menard, provided by her son Jonathan Lepage. Photo by Jonathan Lepage / Distribution
After reading about their case in this newspaper, they did not think it was fair to protect Menard’s identity because they wanted the community to know.
They turned to Ottawa’s royal prosecutor, Moiz Karimji, known for his compassion, and he submitted the successful application on their behalf.
“It was important for the community to know her name. This is part of justice. She can no longer hide, “said Jonathan Lepage, after Ontario Supreme Court Justice Judge Kevin Phillips agreed to lift the ban.
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“She hid. “These incidents happened in our house and no one was wiser, so now her name is known,” said Jonathan.
He said bans on publications protecting the identities of young victims of sexual violence made sense, but in that case, he said, Menard did not deserve protection – and he was no longer a child.
“I am not a young victim. I am 35 years old and I would prefer the community to know that this has happened. I don’t need that kind of protection, “Jonathan said.
“Keeping silent doesn’t matter to my brother or me. We should be allowed to discuss it, “he said.
Menard lost the defense of his identity after Phillips lifted the ban and praised the brothers for their courage to shine a light in the darkest corners and inspire other victims of sexual violence to come forward.
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The judge said he firmly believes in the Canadian principle of open trial, according to which justice must be restored.
Jonathan Lepage says: “Keeping silent is not important to my brother or me. We should be allowed to discuss it. ”Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia
Menard lived in Orleans and Campville. She later worked for Amazon and Walmart.
Jonathan Lepage said she had “lost her mother’s label”.
“She is not my mother,” she said, adding that she was simply the woman who gave birth to him.
Menard called it “nap time” – her crazy code word for haircuts and later sexual exploitation of her own 10-year-old son during five incestuous years.
Every time his mother called him to her bedroom for “nap time,” he knew what was expected of him.
She said this was normal and it was only when he turned 15 that she realized there was nothing normal about having sex with her mother.
After finding Menard guilty, Ontario court judge Trevor Brown described the crimes against her sons as “brutal and disgraceful” and with severe lifelong consequences for her victims. The judge noted that the woman’s sexual crimes affected every corner of her victims’ lives.
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