A man accused of sexual assault will invoke a defense of sexsomnia, that is to say that he claims to have no memory of what he is accused of, because he was sleeping. And that if there was penetration, as the complainant asserts, it was involuntary given her sleep disorder akin to a form of somnambulism.
“I have no recollection of having done anything,” the defendant said on Wednesday.
The criminal trial of Yannick Giguère, 45, is taking place this week at the Montreal courthouse before Judge André Perreault of the Court of Quebec.
This defense is rarely invoked, but has been successfully invoked in the country.
A woman, who cannot be identified by court order, told the judge of an evening in July 2018 when she went to join the accused, who was having dinner with a friend. Afterwards, the three of them went to listen to a chansonnier in a pub in downtown Montreal, where they drank pitchers of sangria and shooters.
I have no memory of doing anything
After the evening, which went very pleasantly according to the trio – they have all already testified – the two women went to sleep at the accused’s: the first because she was moving and her bed had not yet been installed. , and the complainant because she lived far from there. She had already slept with the man, whom she describes as “a good friend and trusted person”.
Because she felt that the mattresses stacked in the living room where the friend was already dozing were too narrow, the thirties went to sleep in the bed of the accused who had, she said, also offered this option.
Except that she woke up in the middle of the night, the accused above her, who was rubbing in her crotch, she told judge Perreault. She says she froze. “I was afraid of his reaction, of what was going to happen. She says she closed her eyes. No words were spoken. No kissing or caresses, she said. She heard the sound of an envelope being torn. She thought of a condom. Then the man penetrated her, she said. “At that time, I made a mental disconnect from my body. »
Afterwards, he went to the bathroom and came back to bed in bed, she described.
The woman then quietly left the apartment, called 911 and walked to the nearest police station to file a sexual assault complaint.
Official diagnosis
At trial, Yannick Giguère said he had no memory of what happened after going to bed: he was very tired, he repeated many times, and was in a situation of hyperglycemia.
The last image he remembers is of going to bed in his pajamas. He has no recollection of the Complainant being in his bed at that time. But later he realized that she was there. He told the court he “didn’t agree” with it. The man remembers going to the bathroom, and then his next memory is hearing the other woman in the living room as she was leaving for work.
The next day, he received a message from the complainant, who “accused him of things that I have no memory of,” he told the judge. “I was in shock. »
He replied to her, and his message notably contained a link which spoke of “sexsomnia”, reported the complainant.
The man also explained to the court that he suffered from erectile problems and also from what he called a “parasomnia”, a sleep disorder. Such episodes have occurred while he slept in the past with some of his partners.
It was known in his circle of friends, who made jokes about it.
He had also already discussed it with his family doctor, but was not officially diagnosed until after the accusation of sexual assault, when he knew he would need an expert report for his trial.
Since then, he takes medication “when people sleep at my house” and says he is followed by a doctor.
The psychiatrist who made the diagnosis is due to testify at the trial, which continues Thursday.