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GATINEAU — A former physical education teacher from Quebec has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for carrying on a two-year sexual relationship with a high school student.

Despite her pleas to serve her sentence in the community, Tania Pontbriand received an 18-month sentence for two counts of sexual exploitation and a 20-month sentence for one count of sexual assault in Gatineau court Friday. She will serve the sentences concurrently.

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She was also sentenced to two years’ probation following her jail term.

Pontbriand was convicted of the three offences in January for having a sexual relationship with her student at a high school in Rosemere, Que., north of Montreal.

The two-year relationship started in 2002, when Pontbriand was 32 and the victim was 15. The victim went to police in 2007 and Pontbriand was charged the following year.

Reacting emotionally at times during Justice Valmont Beaulieu’s hour-long sentencing Friday, Pontbriand stood impassively as she learned her fate.