Former Ottawa teacher handed two-year sentence for sexual assaults on students

Published Jan 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read

A 2005 file photo of teacher and basketball coach Rick Despatie. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

A former Catholic high school teacher was led from an Ottawa courtroom Monday to begin serving a two-year prison sentence for sexually abusing four young students.

Rick Despatie, 60, previously a math teacher and girls’ basketball coach at St. Matthew Catholic High School who now uses the last name Watkins, huddled with his family before being escorted from court by a police constable.

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Dressed in tan khakis and a black sweater, Despatie showed no emotion as Ontario Court Justice Ann Alder delivered her sentence in the case.

“It is inherently wrong for sexual offences to be committed against children,” Alder told Despatie.

“At a minimum, as students, as parents and as a society, we must be able to trust that teachers will not abuse their students.”

It is an idea so deeply ingrained, the judge noted, that some mothers, when first confronted with their daughters’ accounts of Despatie’s abuse, believed that their children must have misinterpreted his actions.

The Crown had asked the court for a five-year sentence in the case, in part because of what it alleged was a pattern of grooming.

The judge rejected that notion, but said Despatie had attempted to “normalize” his behaviour by doing it for many years, in open classrooms, and in front of others.

“Which, as some of the victims explained, instilled in them a sense that no one would do anything,” Alder told court.

Defence lawyer Dean Embry had asked the judge for a one-year conditional sentence given the nature of the sexual assaults, and the fact his client had no previous criminal record.

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During the trial, one student told court Despatie touched her shoulders, arms and thighs right up to the underwear. Another said he touched her shoulder, over and under her shirt, pulled her bra strap, and dropped a binder on the floor so he could watch her pick it up.

Another Grade 7 student said Despatie would put his hand on her thigh, arm or shoulders every time she asked for math help, and once rested his hand near her underwear.

In his testimony, Despatie denied touching the students in a sexualized manner, and said if he did invade anyone’s personal space, it wasn’t intentional.

Two of the victims told court about the impact of Despatie’s crimes. One said she struggled with fear, anger and anxiety and was, at times, suicidal; the other said she found it difficult to trust men.

Judge Alder said Despatie knew what he was doing, and made comments to some of his victims about their reaction to his behaviour. “This was a pattern, a pattern that continued for years,” she said.

His crimes, the judge said, were made worse by the fact they involved such a fundamental breach of trust. “His actions have resulted in profound harm that may well continue throughout these young girls’ lives regardless of the fact that his physical actions may be considered minor by some,” the judge said.

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Higher courts, the judge noted, have made it clear that sentencing judges are to place less emphasis on the physical act involved in sexual assaults, and that lower sentences should not automatically flow from conduct labelled as “mere sexual touching.”

Alder sentenced Despatie to six months for each of the sex crimes committed against his four victims (a two-year prison sentence), followed by two years of probation.

The courtroom was filled with spectators, many of them parents and students from St. Matthew Catholic High School.

Several of the complainants testified they had been warned about Despatie before entering his classroom. Court heard some at the school had nicknamed him “Despedophile.”

St. Matthew vice-principal John Purificati testified that he never received any complaints about inappropriate touching by Despatie, whom he described as a dedicated professional and “a good man.”

The Ottawa Catholic School Board has yet to release its internal investigation into the handling of the Despatie case. The board did not return a request for comment by deadline Monday.

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