A retired violin teacher from Chatham has been sentenced to eight months in jail for sexual assault.
Claude Trachy was also handed two years probation and will be registered as a sex offender for sexually assaulting the girls he taught. The assaults involved Trachy touching the breasts of his students under the guise of them being fitted for violins.
Trachy was in Chatham court on Monday morning awaiting the sentence from Justice Jonathan George. In front of a packed courtroom, Justice George warned Trachy just before he was handcuffed and taken away to jail that he is not to have any contact with his 21 victims.
“Clearly there’s a need for me to denounce such conduct," said Justice George when he reviewed the facts of the case. He added that the parents of the 21 victims “ trusted Trachy but Trachy violated that trust.”
Trachy was previously acquitted of all sexual assault charges, but the Crown appealed that ruling.
Defence lawyer Ken Marley was looking for a suspended sentence and two years probation while the Crown was looking for five years in jail. Marley said he's grateful his client didn't get five years behind bars.
"I'm disappointed he's serving any time at all but I'm grateful it's not a lengthy sentence like five years or something in the penitentiary," Marley added.
Marley said Trachy will only serve two-thirds of his sentence because all provincial sentences get one third off. Trachy will serve five months and 10 days in jail but could be eligible for earlier parole with good behaviour.
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