(Gatineau) The sexual assault trial of Major-General Dany Fortin is expected to conclude on Tuesday, with the Crown’s closing arguments.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
The Crown argued Tuesday morning that there was no reason to believe that the complainant could be mistaken about the identity of the perpetrator of the assault in 1988.
The prosecutor pointed out that Mr. Fortin, during his testimony on Monday, was able to identify with certainty the names and faces of his colleagues by examining the photos in the album of graduates from the military college of Saint-Jean- sur-Richelieu.
According to the Crown, the woman waited to press charges due to a mentality of ” boys club in the military, and she had retired when she finally reported her attacker in 2021.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified last month that she woke up one night in her dorm to find a man grabbed her hand to masturbate . She is absolutely certain that her attacker was Dany Fortin.
The defense attorney on Monday asked the judge for her client’s acquittal, saying the plaintiff’s testimony lacked credibility and that other witnesses had failed to back up her account.
Major-General Fortin was the military officer in charge of the federal campaign to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the provinces, until he was removed from that position in March 2021, when an investigation into allegations has been opened. He is also contesting this decision to withdraw his duties in Federal Court.