MONCTON, N.B—Romeo Cormier was given an 18-year prison sentence Thursday for keeping a New Brunswick woman captive and sexually assaulting her in his one-room basement apartment for nearly a month last year.

“It is necessary to separate Mr. Cormier from society,” said Judge Zoel Dionne of the Court of Queen's Bench.

“These crimes were horrendous.”

Last month, a jury found Cormier, 63, guilty of kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault, assault with a weapon, robbery and uttering death threats.

The 55-year-old woman — whose identity is protected by a publication ban — testified during the trial that Cormier grabbed her at knifepoint on the night of Feb. 26, 2010, outside the shopping mall where she worked.

She said she was held in the basement of a rooming house where he sometimes gagged and sexually assaulted her until she was able to escape on March 24, 2010 while he went out to a food bank.

Cormier offered a different account, telling the court that the woman wanted to be with him and that she had enlisted him to kill her husband. The woman was recalled to the witness stand where she rejected his testimony.

Dionne gave Cormier credit for the 512 days he has already served in remand, but suggested the odds of him rehabilitating were minute.

“The chances of his rehabilitation — never say never — are small,” Dionne said.

Cormier took issue with the sentence.

“I respect you your honour, but I think you were too harsh on me,” he said.

He then turned to the Crown lawyers, saying, “You're a couple of peasants with an education.”

The Crown sought a life sentence, while the defence asked for a prison term of 10 to 12 years.