“He wanted to disfigure me. He wanted no one to be able to get me,” said Laury Choinière, summing up the terrible attack she suffered on December 30. The 21-year-old young woman reports that it was Yan-Philippe Leduc, her ex-partner, who beat her savagely that day.
They had been a couple for a few months, but had known each other for a year, she told the Duty during a video call made Friday with his mother.
She had left him a few weeks before and he did not accept the breakup, she maintained. “It didn’t make him happy that we were no longer together. »
The attack occurred on December 30, in Brossard, in the early morning. It was Laury who called the police. “He beat me almost to death,” she says, her face frozen.
The 27-year-old man, who presents himself as a private trainer who also participates in bodybuilding competitions, was arrested the same day by the Longueuil police. The young woman was transported to hospital “with serious injuries,” according to spokesperson Mélanie Mercille.
He was charged with assault causing bodily harm, assault by choking and false imprisonment. The case was designated as a case of domestic violence by police.
It was the victim’s mother, Julie Choinière, who drew attention to what her daughter had suffered, by publishing on Wednesday on a social network a photo of Laury in hospital, her face swollen and bloody.
“I didn’t recognize my own daughter. It was so swollen. “She had no eyes” and was breathing with difficulty, she describes.
In the early morning of December 30, when she received the call, she didn’t believe it, she reports. “The heart wants to let go of you. There’s no way someone would do this to your child. »
“It’s heartbreaking. »
The man had already caused injuries to the young woman on December 10. Charges of assault were also filed against him for this event, but he was released with conditions to respect, including those of not communicating with Laury and not approaching her. He breached those conditions on December 30, leading to additional charges. “But there had been a lot of violence before that and I did not file a complaint,” explains the young woman.
“It had been going on for a while,” but he always offered “nice words,” telling her that he was a “changed man” and that she was the woman of his life, she explains.
She wanted to believe it. “It seems like you always close your eyes and think that things will change. » Because the first month, everything was wonderful: “a honeymoon with the perfect man” that all women dream of. Then Laury talks about the snowball effect: it starts small, but it gets bigger and bigger. “But you don’t expect it to go this far,” she said, looking down.
Yan-Philippe Leduc has been detained since the December 30 arrest.
Julie Choinière demands justice for her daughter. Laury says she experiences a roller coaster of emotions on a daily basis, including fear. She says she agreed to speak openly about what she experienced to “help as many women as possible get through it”.
“If we heard more about this, maybe I wouldn’t have gone there either,” said the young woman, visibly exhausted at the end of the day of interviews.
Yan-Philippe Leduc has a criminal record, having notably been the subject of accusations of domestic violence. He will return to court on January 10, at the Longueuil courthouse. He will then ask to be released. The Crown opposes it.