Major-General Dany Fortin swears he is not guilty of sexual assault and has never had physical contact with the woman who made detailed allegations at trial this week.
Testifying in French Tuesday afternoon at the Gatineau courthouse, Fortin said he was shocked and devastated upon learning of the allegations against him.
The complainant in the sexual assault trial had said earlier on Tuesday that the defendant was “undoubtedly” the one who assaulted her in 1988 in her dorm room at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
Major-General Fortin was in charge of the federal campaign to distribute vaccines to the provinces against COVID-19 when he was removed from his post in May 2021. He was charged with one count of sexual assault three months more late.
Her lawyer, Isabel Schurman, tried to convince Judge Richard Meredith of the Court of Quebec that the complainant was making a mistake about the person in this sexual assault case.
The complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified Monday that she woke up one night in her room at the military college to find that a man had taken her hand and used to masturbate. The other hand of the man was on his chest, under the sheets, she testified.
She told the court that she opened her eyes and recognized the accused, then pushed him away and told Mr. Fortin to leave, which she said he eventually did.
Questioned Tuesday by his lawyer, Mr. Fortin, in uniform, confirmed that the doors of the rooms in the barracks had to remain unlocked, for fire safety reasons. He also confirmed that the outer doors of the barracks were unlocked, with no one monitoring them or controlling the comings and goings.
But he said he never entered the complainant’s room and never made sexual advances to her. The accused has not yet been cross-examined by the Crown.
The complainant’s memory
During cross-examination of the alleged victim on Monday, Schurman raised inconsistencies between her testimony in court and what she had told an investigator last year. The defense pointed to discrepancies on details such as the precise moment of the alleged assault, whether or not the roommate was in the barracks room at the time, or whether the complainant heard and recognized Ms. Fortin that night.
During the conclusion of her testimony, in English, on Tuesday morning, the plaintiff rejected the thesis of the defense according to which a certain vagueness on the details could cast doubt on her memory concerning key elements of the case. She said she still had ‘nightmares’ and ‘recurring visions’ of the assault, and while she couldn’t be 100% sure of some of the details 34 years later, she had absolutely no no doubt, in any case, about the identity of his attacker.
“I can assure you without a doubt that it was Dany Fortin who was standing in front of me masturbating with my hand,” she told the court. I’ve watched it ; I knew him, this man. »
The ex-lover
The complainant also said on Monday that she visited her then-lover immediately after the alleged assault and told him what had happened. She testified that their relationship then deteriorated and she admitted that they were “definitely not” on good terms.
Called to the bar on Tuesday by the defense, this man told the court, in French, that he had no memory of this conversation or of any interaction between the complainant and Dany Fortin.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Diane Legault asked him if he had heard of assaults on the college campus at the time. He said he did not recall knowing of any criminal sexual assaults, but he acknowledged witnessing discussions or an environment that could be described by the term “sexual misconduct.”
The complainant also testified on Monday that she believed her roommate was present during the assault and therefore could have witnessed it. She also claimed that she then asked her classmate if she had seen or heard anything during the night, without providing further details.
The chambermaid
Me Legault called this lodger to the bar on Tuesday morning, before concluding the case for the prosecution. Testifying in English, the former roommate corroborated the complainant’s account that the two women shared a room at the time in the barracks of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
She also remembered having fun with classmate Fortin, and she explained that cadets were expected to show a certain camaraderie at the military college.
She also said her overall college experience wasn’t positive, with “many behaviors that were probably not appropriate.” She pointed out that these were very young men, many of whom were not even of legal drinking age, and were being pushed to their limits.
But she said she had no recollection of being asked by her then roommate about any particular incident. “I’m not saying it didn’t happen, because personally, because of my own trauma, I blocked out a lot of those memories,” she told the court.
A superior of the complainant, called to the bar on Tuesday, also confirmed that she had reported the assault to him in early 2021.
The vaccination campaign
In addition to defending himself against this criminal charge, Major-General Fortin is challenging in Federal Court the government’s decision to remove him from leading the national campaign to distribute vaccines to the provinces in May 2021.
He testified on Tuesday that when he was removed from his post he did not know why he was being investigated, but he did know that the Privy Council Office and the Prime Minister’s Office were involved in the decision. . He said on Tuesday he learned of the nature of the investigation through media reports.
The Federal Court rejected his request for reinstatement last year, but Mr. Fortin is appealing this decision. His appeal is due to be heard early next month.
In particular, he alleges that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other senior government officials removed him from office for purely political reasons.