(Quebec) Former MP Harold LeBel on Monday dismissed the accusation of sexual assault against him, swearing never to have touched a young woman who considered him a “father figure”.
Posted at 11:02
“It’s wrong, I’ve never done that,” he said when his lawyer, Me Maxime Roy, asked him if he had touched the complainant’s buttocks one night in October 2017, in Rimouski.
Did he try to undo the plaintiff’s bra – whom a court order forbids to identify – as she claims? ” No more. »
The 60-year-old former MP for Rimouski admitted having kissed the complainant, several decades his junior. He did, however, describe a consensual moment, as she explained to the jury last week that the man had tried to kiss her without any warning and to her surprise.
“Yes, that happened, at the table, we were alone at that time. We were six inches away and it happened, and very quickly we backed up and said, “Wow, what happened?” said Mr. LeBel.
The accused was accompanied to the Rimouski courthouse by his two sisters and his former spouse, there to support him, took the time to point out Mr.e Roy at the start of the interrogation.
Mr. LeBel’s testimony will continue on Monday. In particular, he will probably have to explain why he apologized to the complainant in an email nearly three years after the alleged facts.
“Forgive me this evening. This is 1000 leagues away from the respect and consideration I have for you, ”he wrote on February 22, 2020, in response to a long email sent the day before by the complainant.
The 14 jurors – 10 women and 4 men – will have to decide if Harold LeBel is guilty of sexual assault at the end of the trial. The defense will only call Mr. LeBel and the jury is expected to begin deliberating this week.