A man accused of sexual assault will invoke a defense of sexsomnia, that is, he claims to have no memory of what happened, because he was asleep. And that, if there was penetration, it was beyond his control given his sleep disorder akin to a form of somnambulism.
The criminal trial of Yannick Giguère is currently taking place at the Montreal courthouse before Judge André Perreault of the Court of Quebec.
This defense is rarely invoked, but has been successfully invoked in the country.
A woman, who cannot be identified by court order, told the judge of an evening in July 2018 when she went to join the accused, 45, who was having dinner with a friend. Afterwards, the three of them went to listen to a chansonnier in a pub in downtown Montreal, where they drank pitchers of sangria and shooters.
After the evening, which went very pleasantly according to the trio – they have all already testified – the two women went to sleep at the accused’s: the first because she was moving and her bed was not yet installed, and the complainant because she lived far from there. She had already slept with the man, whom she describes as “a good friend and trusted person”.
Because she considered that the mattresses piled up in the living room where the friend was already dozing were too cramped, she went to sleep in the bed of the accused who had, she said, also offered this option to her.
Except that she woke up in the middle of the night, the accused above her, who was rubbing in her crotch, she told judge Perreault. She says she froze “I was afraid of his reaction, of what was going to happen. She says she closed her eyes. No words were spoken. She heard the sound of an envelope being torn. She thought of a condom. Then the man penetrated her, she said.
Afterwards, he went to the toilet and came back to lie down in bed.
She then left her apartment, called 911 and walked to the nearest police station to file a sexual assault complaint.
Official diagnosis
At trial, Yannick Giguère said he had no memory of that night. He was very tired, he repeated over and over again, and was hyperglycemic. He did not realize that the complainant had come to sleep in his bed, he said.
However, he explained to the court that he knew he suffered from what he called a “parasomnia”, a sleep disorder. Similar episodes have occurred during his sleep in the past with some of his partners. According to his testimony, he had asked them to wake him up if that happened.
He had also previously discussed it with his family doctor, but was not officially diagnosed until after the sexual assault charge, when he knew he would need it for his trial.
Since then, he takes medication “when people sleep at my house” and is followed by a doctor, he says.
The psychiatrist who made this diagnosis must testify at the trial.