Having that head cold all weekend and into this week has really kept me out of the loop, so when I began learning of this story out of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, I was absolutely horrified by what I was reading. The man to the left is Gabriel Gagné, shown after being selected 36th-overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft after being a reliable scorer for the QMJHL's Victoriaville Tigres. Today, though, the 27 year-old Gagne was in court for his trial where he's accused of assault, sexual assault, assault with a deadly weapon, and uttering death threats by his ex-girlfriend. Just so you know, this isn't an article about a talented hockey player, but it is an article about a guy who is sexual predator that also played a little hockey. Big difference there.
If that last line stopped you cold in reading this article, let me say up front that there will be parts of this article not intended for younger audiences. The descriptions contained within these passages may be graphic in nature and disturbing in content. Please have younger readers stop here, and know that what will be discussed below is for an older audience.
Gagné looked like a solid prospect coming out of junior hockey, and he showed real promise in 2017-18 when he scored 20 goals in 68 games with the AHL's Belleville Senators. However, a slower start to the season in 2018-19 saw him traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Morgan Klimchuk, and Gagné would spend the remainder of the season with the Marlies and the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers. 2019-20 saw him play 36 games with the Allen Americans, three games with the Ontario Reign, and 21 games with the Rockford IceHogs before he played his final seven professional games in 2020-21 with the IceHogs. In total, he logged 195 AHL games where scored 35 goals and 26 points along with 30 goals and 23 assists in 60 ECHL games.
Everything written above makes Gagné sound like a fairly solid hockey player, but he was entirely another person off the ice. According to
this TVASports article written by Erika Aubin, Gabriel Gagné "was sentenced to six months in prison for harassing and threatening an ex-girlfriend for three years, notably with fake social media accounts" with whom the article states "he had a toxic and stormy relationship between 2015 and 2018". It was written that Gagné "had a significant drinking problem" and had "pleaded guilty last year in Youth Division to two sexual offences committed in 2014" as a member of the Tigres. It was also noted that "[o]ne of his victims was apparently a minor".
Now that we know that Gabriel Gagné is a piece of human trash, we have a better frame of reference to discuss his latest attempt at being a predator with his ex-girlfriend identified only as "Daphné" who met Gagné through Instagram. Translated from French, her account of the first violent outburst that Gagné had towards her occurred in 2018.
She told the court,
"At a party, an argument broke out between the two because the complainant saw him writing to another girl.
"During her testimony, the complainant recounted that Mr. Gagné threw a large black municipal trash can at her. He also spoke very loudly and, subsequently, cried, she recounted.
"'I remember wanting to leave,' she told the court. 'I remember the yelling, the talking, the insults, and I wanted to leave.'
"During the incident, a friend of the accused allegedly told the victim that 'the pressure was coming off' after the hockey season in relation to his teammate's behaviour."
Gagné's behaviour should have had all his teammates on high alert based on him throwing a trash can at someone, but it seems like "boys will be boys" to whomever that teammate was. Texting another girl and getting caught by your girlfriend doesn't ever warrant that kind of response, and anyone who was protecting Gagné should have his head examined as well.
The court heard more from the victim.
"In the summer of 2019, while returning from a late-night dinner, the couple hit the road toward St-Adèle. According to her testimony, the woman did not want him to drive. He allegedly took an exit from the highway because she wanted to get out of the car and take a taxi, she said. After the complainant finally agreed to get back in the car, Mr. Gabriel allegedly started driving at 240 km/h. According to her account, she asked him to slow down, but he replied, 'We're going to kill ourselves together.'"
There isn't a place in Canada or the US where driving 240 km/h (150 mph) is legal, let alone safe. The fact that Gagné stated that they were going to kill themselves together shows that this guy has some serious issues that need addressing, and his behaviour says that the place he may find that help is behind bars.
We're still not done with Gagné's actions towards his girlfriend.
"At the hearing on Tuesday, she said that Mr. Gagné allegedly strangled her and showed her his fist. According to her account, another time, he brandished a dumbbell above her head and her brother had to intervene."
... and...
"'I was half asleep,' she said, as they watched a movie. 'When I woke up, he had his penis erect, in my face.'"
This guy is the definition of predator, and his repeated, disturbing behaviours towards his girlfriend should get him locked away for some time. That's not to mention the other times that law has come down on him, so we're looking at a repeat offender who harasses his victims before turning violent uttering threats against them. How Gabriel Gagné is still out walking around as a free man is beyond me, but the justice system had better get this one right.
According to
a QMI Agency report, "[t]he woman says she decided to leave him after Gagné had a tantrum which ended in yet another assault."
"At that point, I was crying, crying, crying. Big tears. He just penetrated me. My tears were flowing. In my head, it was empty," she said at the trial on Monday.
That's when the harassment and threats began.
"The hockey player then allegedly harassed her, including creating fake social media accounts. He allegedly wrote to her: 'I'm going to burn your house down. You're going to see the consequences. I paid someone to kill you. I'm not afraid of the police.'"
I get that Gagné's lawyers are going to do all they can to discredit the victim's statements here, but this man should not be walking free for a long time. This is the third major criminal sexual crime he's been accused of committing in a period of six years which shows that he's a serial predator. Despite him spending months in prison already, the totality of these crimes needs to be evaluated as a whole for which he should serve time and seek help.
Giving him six months for one crime or three months for another crime just puts pauses in his serial preying, and I'm hoping that the judge and/or jury in this trial realize that the frequency of the crimes shows that this man was escalating when it came to the types of violence and threats he inflicted on his victims. He went from luring to threatening to kill his last girlfriend on multiple occasions. That cannot be ignored, overlooked, or dismissed.
If the justice system was able to do so, I'd tell them to lock Gabriel Gagné up and melt the key. It's pretty clear that no woman will be safe from his brand of terror and harassment, and that's why I'm hoping that the judge and/or jury hand down a harsh penalty here. Gabriel Gagné is a dangerous predator, and we're all safer with him locked away.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
