Jerome Messam gets 18 month suspended sentence for voyeurism

2 Likes

Link is behind a paywall, sorry.

Hereā€™s text from another news outlet

CALGARY ā€” A former running back with the Calgary Stampeders who filmed a sexual encounter with a woman without her permission wonā€™t be going to jail but will have a criminal record.

Jerome Messam, 37, received an 18-month suspended sentence Monday after pleading guilty earlier this year to a charge of voyeurism.

Court heard Messam and the woman followed each other on social media while he was a running back for the Canadian Football League team and, in November 2016, they had dinner together then consensual sex at his apartment.

Three months later, Messam sent the woman four 10-second video clips of their sexual encounter on the social media platform Snapchat, which deletes videos after they are played.

The woman made a formal complaint to police and the CFL in April 2018. Messam had his contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders terminated after he was charged in July 2019.

Court of Kingā€™s Bench Justice April Grosse said Messam didnā€™t share the video with anyone else or attempt to profit from it, but it was a serious violation of privacy.

She said Messam has also openly acknowledged to the court that he thought his actions were blown out of proportion.

ā€œI find that Mr. Messam accepts that what he did was wrong, that it caused material harm and that he is genuinely sorry,ā€ Grosse said Monday.

ā€œWhile he genuinely accepts these things, I find that he does not have insight into the full extent of the seriousness of what he did or the harm caused.ā€

At his sentencing hearing last month, Messam apologized for his behaviour but also expressed some anger at all he had lost.

ā€œI see that all this happened in a time when there was so much nuance and all these MeToo (movements) and all the things. They just threw me to the wolves. No due justice, no due process,ā€ he said Nov. 10.

"I take pride in what Iā€™ve done on the football field. It sucks that my career was cut short. I made a bad choice. Do I feel the punishment fits the crime? No. I lost everything in a span of 48 hours.ā€˜ā€™

In a tearful victim impact statement last month, the woman said she had considered ending her own life, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has moved away from Calgary.

Grosse said Messam has done many good things for his family, friends and community. She also said having a criminal record could affect his chances of continuing to be a role model to children through sport or becoming a college football coach.

ā€œHe must bear full responsibility for the attitudes, assumptions, beliefs and whatever else may have led him to believe he could record sexual intercourse without his partnerā€™s knowledge or consent. This is a serious offence,ā€ she said.

ā€œI am satisfied that a conditional discharge is not appropriate. It would send the wrong message to the public. It would also send the wrong message to Mr. Messam, who is still coming to terms with the extent and seriousness of what occurred.ā€

Messam joined the CFL in 2010 and played for British Columbia, Edmonton, Montreal, Calgary and Saskatchewan.

He became the seventh Canadian running back since 1955 and the first since 2000 to rush for more than 1,000 yards, while also winning the CFLā€™s Most Outstanding Canadian Award.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2022.

2 Likes

No due process? He pleaded guiltyā€¦

3 Likes

Yeah, I gotta say that him playing the victim is not a good look.

3 Likes

Youā€™re darned tootinā€™ playing the victim was ā€œnot a good look.ā€

It seems strange but it looks like Jerome Messam messed up twice here. Not only did he thoughtlessly victimize some poor woman by secretly video taping her, but he stupidly forced the judge assigned to his case to kick his ass. Had Messam not ā€œopenly acknowledged to the court that he thought his actions were blown out of proportionā€¦ā€ I think thereā€™s a teensie chance heā€™d have been spared a criminal record.

5 Likes

and that IS the problemā€¦asshats like this go into court and feign feeling sorry for their victims and say they suddenly had an epiphany that they have been abusing women their entire life and now know what they did was wrong. they get to walk away as if nothing happened.
The woman had her life ruined and contemplated suicide. He should have seen time behind bars and made to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
High time society stops seeing women and throw away members of society and sexual play-things for men.
YES, i know this far form a popular stance but a lot of you do not have female family members or close friends who were raped or sexually abused ā€¦THAT YOU KNOW OF

3 Likes

Do I feel the punishment fits the crime? No. I lost everything in a span of 48 hours.''

As the predator you didn't lose anything, you earned it.
As for your victim she lost everything!!

4 Likes

When I served our RSM's welcome to the regiment speach had the following gem

" I will stand beside every sapper who makes a mistake or does wrong even if i disgree with your action However any soldier who commits a crime and is too cowardly to do the time had better fear facing me more than the devil himself"

We can all agree what jessome did was vulgar and wrong. We can all agree his career should.end as a result which it did

I could have wished him well in retirement if he had owned his actions and accepted responsibility for them ( without agreeing with his behavior)

But the true defention of a coward being a person who wants to do a crime.but not being man enough to do the time ..... still is engrained in me

Once the crime happened he couldnt undo it - he could have owned it and done so in a manner that the victim could see.that he did so and made no excuses or attempts to diminish the severity

4 Likes

That was amazingly well said, sir.

The system has failed this poor unsuspecting woman while Messam learns nothing and still minimizes the true impact of his actions.
These sordid videos will be a never ending millstone that the victim will be forced to bear as they could easily surface in cyber world forever and a day.

Messam needs to tear up the victim card and truly acknowledge the harm and suffering he has placed upon this woman.

2 Likes

One would hope this is the eventual outcomeā€¦sounds like heā€™s got a whole bunch of maturing to doā€¦

1 Like

Agreed but if at this point in his life and he has been seeing himself as the victim here, then there is no hope he ever see women as anything but what he has used them for so farā€¦

He should have seen this coming

Mysogonistic asshats never see their downfall coming