Former nun convicted of assaulting kids sentenced to eight months jail

Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Press/November 7, 2002
By Chris Morris

Charlottetown -- A judge has sent an elderly former nun to jail for beating children, bringing an end to a court case that wove together Biblical tenets and modern sensibilities about corporal punishment.

Lucille Poulin, the 78-year-old spiritual leader of a rural P.E.I. commune, was sentenced Thursday to eight months in jail followed by three years probation. She is not to live with or care for children during her period of punishment. Justice David Jenkins of P.E.I. Supreme Court said Poulin isolated the children in her care in a "regime of fear and frequent violence."

She was convicted last month of assaulting five children who lived at the commune by frequently beating them with a wooden paddle she called the rod of correction. The children ranged in age from seven to 12.

"In my view the objectives of denunciation and general deterrence are significant in this case," said Jenkins during sentencing.

The judge said he wanted to send the message that "people cannot assault children without criminal law consequences."

Poulin was stoic as she heard the sentence.

Dressed in her usual attire of a floral dress with a matching cap covering her hair, the elderly woman hugged and kissed the four commune members who have sat with her through the long trial, which began in September.

Poulin was taken away by guards. She will serve her eight months at the Sleepy Hollow provincial jail near Charlottetown.

"It's her turn now for punishment," said Poulin's niece, who lives in Vancouver and has cared for two of the commune children.

"This is a vindication for those little children. At least someone believed them."

The niece said Poulin's advanced age will make prison time difficult.

"But I think the judge did the right thing. She has to suffer the consequences of her actions."

Earlier in the day, a defiant but emotional Poulin told Jenkins the blood of the children she assaulted is not on her hands.

Poulin, the self-described prophet of the commune near Summerside, P.E.I., asked for the court's mercy, admitting it was "no small thing" to be tried and convicted for a criminal offence.

But she never said she was sorry about the pain and suffering she inflicted on children at the commune.

Poulin said God told her it was all right to physically punish children in an effort to drive out the devil. But the court ruled she went beyond correction to child abuse.

Jenkins noted Poulin's lack of regret in his sentencing decision.

"She showed no remorse or acknowledgment of wrongdoing," he said.

Poulin said she has been faithful to the mandate she said she was given by God.

Poulin, her voice shaking with emotion during a rambling presentence statement, said she loves Jesus Christ above all else.

"I just want to say it is better to obey God than man," she said.

Poulin did not clarify what she meant when she said her hands were free of the blood of the children. However, her lawyer, Zia Chishti, said in his address to the court that Poulin was acting on the authority of the parents of the children - all of them commune members.

The former nun looked after the children while the parents worked in the commune restaurant and on the farm. Chishti said the parents accepted the use of the rod as a legitimate form of punishment to save the children from damnation.

"Give the accused the benefit of the doubt," Chishti said to Jenkins, as he appealed for a light sentence.

The mother of three of the children who testified against Poulin is still a member of the commune and accompanied the elderly former nun during all of her court appearances.

The mother told the court the beatings were not excessive.

But two other parents testified against Poulin, saying her use of the rod was unreasonable and harsh.

The children, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, have been removed from the commune. Most of them now live with relatives in Alberta.

Jenkins said victim impact statements from the five children make it clear they have suffered lasting physical and emotional damage.

One little girl wrote in her impact statement that when she went to sleep at night at the commune, she was afraid "Lucille would use the rod to wake her up in the morning."

Most of the children said they still have nightmares about the commune and several are receiving counselling.

Crown prosecutor Darrell Coombs asked for a jail sentence of a year to 18 months for Poulin.

He said the trial has received national and international attention and a strong message of deterrence should be sent.

"There are other Lucille Poulins out there," he said.

Poulin said that no matter what happens to her on earth, she believes her soul has been saved and she will spend eternity in heaven.

"One day, everyone will face the eternal judge to answer for what they have done," she told the court. "Regardless of what happens to me here, He will keep my soul from hell."