Nayla Kana thought she would die that evening. Raped by a man. However, their date had gone well, according to her. “When I fled, he had a little smirk… He’s a psychopath,” she whispers. Ten years later, she decided to name the man: the Dr Stephan Probst, former head of department at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.
At 18, Christina Sciortino fell under the spell of this young doctor. She quickly became disillusioned. “A no didn’t mean no to him,” she says. From their first datehe sexually assaulted her, she said. Then on two other occasions, a decade later, including a particularly violent episode (see other text), she testifies.
These two women confided to The Press having been sexually assaulted by Stephan Probst in recent years in Montreal. They agreed to tell their story in order to inspire other potential victims to report. Also a way to regain control of their history. To end the shame.
“I am not a victim. I am a survivor,” insists Christina Sciortino. “Fuck the shame!” “, she says, determined.
Their allegations have not been tested in court. Stephan Probst is not facing any criminal charges in connection with them.
We attempted to contact Stephan Probst numerous times through his lawyer, but our requests for an interview went unanswered.
The Press revealed last Tuesday that several women had filed police complaints against Stephan Probst in recent weeks, according to sources close to the matter. But no new criminal charges have been filed at this time.
Found guilty
Stephan Probst had it all. Head of the nuclear medicine department at the Jewish General Hospital of Montreal since 2013, the 47-year-old also practiced in the United States, in addition to being an assistant professor at McGill University. The university refuses to indicate whether it is still there.
But last August, the specialist doctor was found guilty before the Court of Quebec of having participated in the group sexual assault of Victoria* with her partner Wendy Devera in 2020. He will receive his sentence in the coming months. He was provisionally struck off by the College of Physicians at the beginning of September.
Victoria, a young artist, had gone to Stephan Probst’s penthouse for the sole purpose of having sex with Wendy Devera. She had no interest in the doctor and refused his advances several times. However, she was drugged without her knowledge that evening. While she was under the influence of drugs, Stephan Probst penetrated her without her consent.
At trial, the defense accused Victoria of having invented everything. A version rejected by the judge.
On the witness stand, Stephan Probst boasted of having participated in dozens of “threesomes” and having had numerous sexual relationships in his life. He also boasted of carefully calibrating the drug (crystalline MDMA powder) that he sometimes offered to his guests.
“I want to protect other women. I want Victoria’s story to be believed. He’s a rapist and everyone needs to know that,” says Nayla Kana, in a telephone interview from her native England, where she returned to live in 2015.
“I managed to escape”
Nayla Kana says she met Stephan Probst in a bar in Old Montreal in 2013. “She was a good date “, she summarizes. The evening continues in the doctor’s apartment. “We were getting ready to sleep together. I consented,” she said. The young woman had only one condition: that Stephan Probst wear a condom.
“I said to him: “Where is the condom?” He replied: “Yes, yes.” And there he is on me. I tell him: “No, no, you don’t have sex with me!” Then he pushes me onto the bed and forces his penis into me,” she says.
Stephan Probst’s face remains etched in her memory: “He was silent and looked at me like a fucking psychopath, almost with a little smile,” she says.
Nayla Kana then feels like she is fighting for her life.
“I try to get out, but he pushes me away. I kick furiously with my feet. I start screaming. I’m like, “This guy is going to kill me.” I managed to get up and run away,” she says in one breath.
Eleven years later, Nayla Kana still can’t believe how the evening turned out. “He could have had consensual sex with me!” We could have gone and gotten a condom. But no, that wasn’t his motivation. He went as far as rape,” she maintains.
Ashamed, Nayla Kana decides not to file a complaint with the police. She tells herself that she won’t be believed. “In my opinion, they would have said to me: ‘You went to his house when you wanted sex.’ » Furthermore, she feels that her story is not “convincing” enough, since the man had “no knife”.
In my mind, my voice as a woman should always be silent. I was in this state. It was pre-#metoo.
Nayla Kana
Stephan Probst wrote to her after the event, as if nothing had happened, she maintains. She never saw him again.
The two women speak
After that night, Nayla Kana searches for Stephan Probst on Facebook. She realizes that they have a friend in common: Christina Sciortino. “She was my Facebook friend, but she wasn’t my friend. We worked together, without knowing each other too much,” she summarizes.
Nayla Kana then confides her story to Christina. A fact that Christina Sciortino confirmed to The Press.
In turn, Christina Sciortino reveals to him that she was sexually assaulted by Stephan Probst. Things remain there. The two women do not keep in touch after Nayla’s return to England.
Then, at the beginning of September 2024, Christina came across an article about the trial of Stephan Probst. She sends the link to Nayla. The two women then published messages on Facebook, 15 minutes apart, denouncing the doctor. Nayla Kana even created a Facebook group to invite all potential victims of Stephan Probst to report him.
Even today, Nayla Kana says she is haunted by this attack.
But after being silent for a decade, Nayla no longer wants to stay in the shadows. She expresses it this way in a publication on Facebook.
“I am a victim myself, and for a decade I remained silent for fear of not being believed. But it’s over. »
* Fictitious first name