CHARLOTTETOWN - Lucille Poulin, the 78-year-old former nun convicted of assaulting five children in her care at a Prince Edward Island commune, has been sentenced to eight months in jail.
Justice David Jenkins of the P.E.I. Supreme Court also sentenced Poulin to three years probation.
``In my view the objective of denunciation and general deterrence are significant in this case,'' said Jenkins during sentencing Thursday.
The judge said he wanted to send the message ``people cannot assault children without criminal law consequences.''
Poulin, who showed no reaction during the hearing, will serve her time at a jail in Prince Edward Island.
During the years in probation she is not to have children in her care and not to reside in the same home with children.
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 five children at the commune by repeatedly beating them with a wooden paddle she called a rod of correction.
Poulin was convicted last month of assaulting the children, ranging in age from seven to 12.
``The blood of those children is not on my hands anymore,'' Poulin told Jenkins in a rambling, pre-sentence statement to the court.
Poulin, her voice shaking with emotion, said she loves Jesus Christ above all else.
``I just want to say it is better to obey God than man,'' said the former nun and spiritual leader of the commune in Hazel Grove, P.E.I.
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 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 has 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.
Crown prosecutor Darrell Coombs asked the court for a jail sentence of a year to 18 months for Poulin.
He said the sensational case 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, wearing the same full, flowered dress and matching cap she has worn throughout her trial, which began in September, said she follows the word of Christ and the word is the truth.
``The truth shall set you free,'' she told Jenkins, adding that she prayed every day for him to do ``the right thing.''
She said God warned her there would be times when her devotion would lead her before judges and magistrates.
``Fear not, I will be with you,'' she said. Poulin believes God speaks to her directly.
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.''