Dominique Laroche will indeed undergo a trial in the winter. Accused of sexual assault on a minor, the man saw his request for a stay of proceedings rejected by the court.
• Read also: Questioning of Dominique Laroche: disturbing allegations from the complainant about the attacks which allegedly took place over several years
• Read also: Motion to stay proceedings: Laroche mentioned 86 times that he would not speak
Judge Marie-Claude Gilbert, who heard the request to stay proceedings last week, had announced her intention to render her decision later in February, but finally decided to end the suspense last Friday.
The magistrate informed the parties that she would not order a stay of proceedings in the case of the ex-freestyle skier.
The trial scheduled for two weeks will therefore open on February 26 and it is at this time that the judge will explain the reasons for her decision.
Detained for more than 11 hours
Laroche’s lawyer, Me Stéphanie Pelletier-Quirion, had pleaded that the authorities had not respected her client’s constitutional rights by questioning him for more than 11 hours on the day of his arrest in June 2021.
Stevens LeBlanc/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC
Laroche was arrested on a warrant and was questioned while police searched his residence and questioned his partner. The defense believed that the warrant in question provided for the release of an accused “as soon as possible” to the extent that the suspect does not speak during interrogation.
Dominique Laroche repeated on more than 80 occasions that he would not speak about the facts of the case during the interrogation, but maintained a conversation with the investigator on a host of trivial subjects.
The Crown argued that the police work that day was covered by the exception to the Criminal Code which allows a suspect arrested under a warrant to be detained if the officers collected evidence allowing the investigation to advance at the same time.
“Sexual object”
Dominique Laroche is facing six charges of a sexual nature for actions that took place over a dozen years.
In her statement given to investigators, the complainant said that the attacks began when she was 13 years old.
“It was your sexual object,” the investigator told Dominique Laroche during his police interrogation. “How can a 13-14 year old girl make this up?” he questioned him about the sexual practices he had with the young complainant.