A man who saw a sexual assault charge he faced be tossed out more than five years ago because a Quebec Court judge believed Montreal police violated his rights, was sentenced in the same case Friday to house arrest.
In a decision delivered at the Montreal courthouse, Judge Martin Chalifour noted how long Rui Pedro Ribeiro, 39, of Montreal, waited for the outcome of the case filed against him in 2020 when he was charged with one count of sexual assault.
Ribeiro received a 16-month sentence he will be able to serve in the community. The first 10 months will involve house arrest. For the following six months, he will have to follow a series of surveillance conditions.
While explaining why he decided to sentence Ribeiro to time he can serve in the community, the judge noted he has no criminal record, respected his release conditions since he was charged in 2020, has held down jobs following his arrest and he has since apologized to the victim.
“He expressed remorse for the impact his actions had on the victim even if that was not his intention,” Chalifour said.
On April 6, 2022, a different Quebec Court judge ruled on a motion filed by Ribeiro and determined Montreal police violated five of Ribeiro’s charter rights based on his arrest and how he was questioned. The judge decided the only remedy available was to place a stay of proceedings on the charge.
The Crown appealed that decision and, on Nov. 18, 2024, the Quebec Court of Appeal reversed it and ordered a new trial be held before a different judge.
The appellate court determined the first judge erred by pronouncing the stay of proceedings. It also found, for the most part, Ribeiro’s rights were not violated, except for the possibility his right to remain silent was.
According to a court decision made last year by Chalifour, before the second trial began, the complainant’s version of what happened was she met the accused and some other people she knew following a dinner. She spent the rest of the evening with them and, at one point, she told Ribeiro she was not interested in him and was instead interested in another person who was part of the group.
After they left, she walked with the accused to his apartment and agreed to go inside. She knew two of Ribeiro’s roommates and felt their apartment was a safe space. At one point, she took a puff of marijuana, felt unwell and went into a bedroom.
She told the court Ribeiro followed her into the bedroom. He kissed her and removed her top. She objected by telling him ‘no.’ He persisted and forced her to perform oral sex. He also attempted to remove her pants. She eventually managed to leave the premises.
According to the same decision made in 2025, Ribeiro claimed they engaged in consensual sexual activity that ended abruptly when the prospect of going further arose. He claimed they became intimate and she quickly offered to perform oral sex on him in explicit terms and then proceeded to do so.
The second trial was held last year and, earlier this year, Chalifour found Ribeiro guilty of sexual assault. While reading from the sentence decision, the judge said the woman told Ribeiro many times she did not want to have sex with him.
“She experienced a loss of control and of her reputation,” the judge said, while referring to a letter the woman filed in court. “She saw it as a huge injustice. She wrote that she was not motivated by revenge. She wanted an acknowledgement, that the truth would be exposed, recognized and validated.”
The woman’s identity is protected by a standard publication ban. That includes details on how she knew Ribeiro. The woman is more than a decade younger than Ribeiro.