QUEBEC — Two former Quebec junior hockey players will appeal the prison sentences they received for sexually assaulting a minor at a hotel in June 2021 during a celebration of the Victoriaville Tigres' championship win.
On Monday, Quebec Provincial Court Justice Thomas Jacques sentenced Nicholas Daigle to 32 months in prison and Massimo Siciliano to 30 months.
Lawyers for the 21-year-old Siciliano have petitioned to give his client a suspended sentence and bail while he awaits sentencing.
Lawyers for Daigle, 21, said they have filed a similar appeal on their client's behalf.
Both appeals are scheduled to be heard at the high court in the state capital on Thursday.
At the time of the assault, both men were members of the Victoriaville team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, which was celebrating on June 5, 2021, after winning the championship trophy.
The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was an employee at a hotel near Quebec City where the team was staying during the playoffs in 2021. She became friends with Daigle and his teammates while they were staying at the hotel for about a month leading up to the championship.
She initially declined invitations from team members to parties, and she also initially declined Daigle's request to join her in her room, citing hotel rules, but later that night, after she finished work, Daigle messaged her again, persuading her to return to the hotel.
The victim agreed to go to the room alone with Daigle, but when she arrived, Siciliano, whom she did not know, was also there. The victim said she felt trapped before being assaulted by both men, sometimes simultaneously, for approximately 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, Daigle was filming the woman without her knowledge.
Both men pleaded guilty in October ahead of their trial.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2024.
