Producer Luc Wiseman, who faces charges of sexual assault on a minor, will finally undergo his preliminary investigation next July. The complainant will then be called to testify in court.
This is his lawyer, Me Alexandre Bien-Aimé, who requested this preliminary investigation Tuesday morning at the Montreal courthouse. The accused was not there at the time of the incident, he who has remained out of media attention since his arrest last May.
“There will be three witnesses, two of whom are minors, which includes the complainant,” the deputy spokesperson for the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) confirmed on Tuesday.e Patricia Johnson, adding that everything will be held over two days, July 28 and 29.
In front of the cameras, prosecutor Me Rachelle Pitre also confirmed Tuesday that the victim – whose identity is protected by a publication ban, will benefit from a “tele-testimony”.
“In fact, it is a protective measure that is provided in the Criminal Code to facilitate the passage of children to court. […] What this means is that the victim will be testifying outside the courtroom, so she is not in the physical presence of the accused, which allows her to testify without direct confrontation with the accused. aggressor ”, raised the lawyer.
A brief reminder of the facts
Remember that Luc Wiseman is still at large at present, but he is facing five counts, including sexual assault, touching and assaulting a person under the age of 16.
The remaining charges relate to the production and possession of child pornography. The events for which he is accused would have occurred between November 2018 and April 2021, in Montreal, Duhamel, in the Outaouais, and elsewhere in the province.
Mr. Wiseman was arrested last May, leaving his post as president of Avanti Groupe at the same time. He then specified that he will leave “the management team in place to manage the future of the company without his involvement”. Then, when he left the police station, the accused tried to avoid the cameras that were waiting for him, before leaving the scene quickly. His lawyer then announced that his client “will plead not guilty at the appropriate time and is determined to defend himself against these charges”.
” I did not expect that. I feel very sorry for the victim, a minor. It upsets me, ”also reacted in the wake of Guy A. Lepage, host of the popular show Everybody talks about it, of which Mr. Wiseman was a co-producer until the time of his arrest. “I am devastated and, quite frankly, in tabarnak », Mr. Lepage insisted on this subject.