A male convicted child sex offender in Canada who raped a 3-month-old infant boy has been transferred to a women’s correctional facility near a Mother-Child Program after the inmate began identifying as transgender, according to a report.
Tara Desousa, formerly Adam Laboucan, sexually assaulted a 3-month-old baby boy in Quesnel, British Columbia, in 1997 when the sex offender was 15 years old, according to a Reduxx report.
The infant’s parents had hired Laboucan to babysit their child, after which the horrific assault occurred. Local media reported that the child suffered damage that required reconstructive surgery, and Laboucan mutilated himself and ate his flesh while in custody after the assault.
During court hearings, Dr. Steve Sigmond, a clinical psychologist who examined Laboucan in 1997 and testified in court, said the child sex offender also admitted to drowning a 3-year-old boy in 1993. Laboucan, who was 11 years old at the time of the alleged drowning, did not face criminal charges due to a law that says the accused must be at least 12 years old, Reduxx reported.
Two years later, authorities indefinitely sentenced Laboucan to prison at the age of 17, which made him the nation’s youngest violent sex offender.
Laboucan, now Desousa, has been transferred to the Fraser Valley Institution for Women in Abbotsford, a city in British Columbia adjacent to the Canada–United States border. However, it was not immediately known when authorities transferred Desousa to the women’s facility.
According to the news outlet, Canadian government officials passed Bill C-16 in June 2017, which added “gender identity” to the Canadian Human Rights Act.
The women’s institution, Reduxx reported, features a minimum-security annex that includes a Mother-Child Program for incarcerated mothers and their babies. Inmates of the program share a kitchen, lounge, bathroom, and multiple bedrooms. Although the program’s original design was intended for mothers and their children, a National Post report claims childless inmates may access the program and could apply to serve as babysitters or “aunties.”
Heather Mason, an advocate for the rights of incarcerated women, told Canadian government officials several women in female institutions faced sexual harassment from males identifying as transgender — making direct mention of Desousa and another inmate, which Reduxx reported as a serial pedophile who has been described as having an “all-encompassing preoccupation in sexually abusing young girls.”
“One of these women reported that while in the mother-child program, two transgender individuals with convictions for pedophilia, Madilyn Harks and Tara Desousa, would loiter near her and her child, making sexist and inappropriate antagonizing comments,” Mason said in her statement.
Reduxx obtained exchanges between Mason and an anonymous female inmate housed in Fraser Valley Institution for Women in Abbotsford, who claims authorities placed Desousa in a unit next to the Mother-Child Program residence.
The source, who has a 3-month-old baby boy, said that Desousa stares at children to “antagonize” the women, adding that she experienced a frightening interaction with Desousa.
“I was told that there was an extremely violent child sex offender present who hadn’t been in the presence of a young child in a very long time,” she said. “Once I was informed of the sick and brutal nature of the crime against the child, I regretted even going or letting that person set eyes on my child.”
The source told Mason that authorities placed Desousa next to the Mother-Child facility after the incident.
“These accusations of looming around the child program resulted in a dispute in which this trans sex offender picked up and threw a female inmate and charged after her once she was on the ground to continue the assault,” the source explained to Mason. “Luckily, guards intercepted, but they segregated the female inmate for inciting a reaction for confronting this trans inmate sex offender for his action.”
Canada’s Correctional Service data published by the news outlet indicate indigenous women make up nearly half the female prison population.
A 2022 report published by Correctional Service shows 82% of “gender diverse” prisoners in Canada were men who identified as transgender with a history of sexual offenses, most committed crimes before their transgender status, and the majority committed violations involving death or serious harm to their victims, more than half of which were women and children.
Mason noted in a report to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in 2021 that Desousa has prostituted himself to other male prisoners, developed a drug addiction in prison, and threatened to kill a female guard with a homemade knife. Other descriptions say Desousa mutilated his genitalia and meets the criteria for psychopathy and severe borderline personality disorder.
Desousa appealed for parole last year, but authorities denied the request in a September 20 ruling after the board determined a recent psychiatric assessment determined the inmate still posed a potential danger to society and a high risk of re-offending.
Authorities will review Desousa’s cases again in October 2024.
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