Guilty of voyeurism | Health worker photographed seniors in humiliating positions

Many elderly patients have been victims of the twisted fantasies of a care attendant who photographed them without their knowledge in extremely humiliating positions. This predator has already sexually assaulted a patient at Saint-Eustache hospital.

Jean-Élie Paul, 47, pleaded guilty last month at the Joliette courthouse to a charge of voyeurism towards elderly people under his responsibility.

This beneficiary attendant worked between November 2021 and January 2022 in the Lanaudière and Laurentides regions. Few details about the context of the crimes were recounted in the courtroom. We do not know the number of victims or the establishments where the accused was active.

Sixteen photos found in Jean-Élie Paul’s cell phone were summarized in court. In several of them, the offender photographed the private parts of the patients, while they were asleep, in bed or in front of their walker. Eight photos show the victims lying in their excrement.

The Crown prosecutor, M^e Sarah Frenette, requested the preparation of a pre-sentence report and a sexological report to obtain a “better portrait” of the offender.

“There are particular circumstances that may give rise to legitimate concern,” said defense lawyer M.^e Felix Beauchemin.

Sentencing hearings will take place in the coming weeks.

Patient attacked on stretcher

Two months before filming seniors without their knowledge, in September 2021, Jean-Élie Paul sexually assaulted a vulnerable patient in the middle of the corridor at Saint-Eustache hospital. Employee of an agency, he worked as a beneficiary attendant that day¹.

The victim was bedridden on a stretcher in the hospital emergency corridor due to his excessive alcohol consumption. Neither seen nor known, Jean-Élie Paul climbed on top of the victim and penetrated her. The victim was then very weak and vulnerable. She reported the situation to a nurse who had no reaction.

Judge François Landry sentenced Jean-Élie Paul to three years in prison in November 2024. “It is a situation of abuse of trust by a person who works at the hospital and who uses his work to achieve his ends,” insisted the magistrate.

Last August, the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) refused to grant him day parole and full parole. Jean-Élie Paul still presents an “average” risk of recidivism. According to a psychologist, it is however possible that this estimate “underestimates its real risk”.

Even after the verdict, Jean-Élie Paul continued to proclaim his innocence in detention. However, to the “great surprise” of the Commission, the offender admitted his wrongs for the first time during the hearing. He explained that he had sexually assaulted the patient due to… her “stress”. He maintained that he had no sexual problems.

“The Commission cannot help but think that your speech is intended more with the aim of obtaining release rather than full recognition of the criminal actions committed,” write commissioners Luc Chamberlain and Sandra Brouillette.

We learn in their decision that Jean-Élie Paul tried to leave Canada in the summer of 2023, even though he had been prohibited from doing so by the court. He supposedly wanted to “go on vacation.”

Jean-Élie Paul has permanent residence, but is not a Canadian citizen. This means that he could be expelled from the country for serious criminality. However, the CLCC emphasizes that he has not yet been subject to a removal order from the authorities.