A woman who would have been forced by a pimp into prostitution would also have been betrayed by her confidant and neighbor, who would have become the accomplice of her executioner.
Twice in 2019 and 2020, Joanne Gagné collaborated with the police to denounce the violence suffered by her neighbor and friend, at the hands of Erickson Angibeau.
But in an unexpected turn of events, now Mme Gagné, 42, is now among the defendants. She is currently on trial alongside Angibeau, for having benefited materially from the sexual services offered by the alleged victim and for having attempted to obstruct the course of justice by inciting him to withdraw his complaint against the ‘male.
Erickson Angibeau is accused of human trafficking, pimping, assault, threats and having received material benefit from the fruits of prostitution.
Erickson Angibeau was arrested last year by the Longueuil Agglomeration Police Department and is charged with human trafficking and pimping COURTESY
Courtesy
The alleged victim was allegedly forced for almost a year and a half into prostitution, mainly in Ontario.
not a penny
“He had control over everything I did, control over everything, with customers, my family,” testified the 31-year-old woman, whose identity is protected.
She could make up to 10 clients a day, which brought her between 1000 and 3000$. But she never saw the color of this money. Angibeau was also in control of all her finances, she added. Joanne Gagné probably knew that her neighbor was being exploited.
“She told me she worked the whole month. Erickson was slapping her in the face to get her to wake up and make customers. She told me Erickson put speeds in her mouth to wake her up. He threw glasses of water in her face to wake her up, ”wrote the accused Gagné, in a statement made to the Sûreté du Québec, in October 2019, after an event of violence suffered by her neighbor.
In a second statement, made in January 2020, Ms.me Gagné introduces herself as the “best friend” of the alleged victim.
Corrected letter
“I noticed very quickly that [Angibeau] was actually her pimp […]that he is very controlling, possessive and very aggressive towards [elle]“, she wrote.
But a few weeks later, the latter would have changed sides and would have become complicated with Angibeau. The alleged facts allegedly began on 1er March 2020, according to the whistleblower.
Angibeau had also tried to pressure her to withdraw a complaint filed against him. She tried repeatedly to contact the Crown prosecutor in charge of the file as well as the investigators. The man was whispering what to say on the phone. She also wrote them a five-page letter, dictated by the accused, to withdraw. They were then in Joanne Gagné’s kitchen, and it was the latter who corrected her mistakes, said the witness.
The trial continues this week at the Longueuil courthouse before Judge Benoit Gariépy.