Former Rimouski MP Harold LeBel is serving eight months in prison after being found guilty last November of sexually assaulting a young woman in his Rimouski apartment in 2017.
If she now feels “stronger”, the victim of former Rimouski MP Harold LeBel testified Thursday to the ordeal she experienced following her sexual assault and throughout the legal proceedings.
“I never went back over the thread of events […] as much as during the trial. I had the impression of being confronted with events in a loop. I had a lot of difficulty working in the days that followed the end of the proceedings, ”she said in a letter read by the Crown prosecutor, Ms.e Manon Gaudreaul, at the Rimouski courthouse.
The judge then endorsed a joint suggestion presented by the prosecutor and Harold LeBel’s lawyer, Ms.e Maxime Roy, according to which the former deputy will also be registered for 20 years in the register of sex offenders. He will also have to respect a series of conditions preventing him from approaching or contacting the complainant.
The ex-PQ then took the floor to emphasize that he had “respected the procedure here” and “avoid excesses in social networks”.
“It’s going well despite the consequences I had for me,” then testified Harold LeBel. “It’s terrible for me, my career, my values. I’ve always been someone who has been close to groups that fought against aggression and it gets to me to be seen as someone who is an aggressor,” he continued.
“An Endless Night”
On December 23, the former PQ MP announced through his lawyer that he would not appeal his conviction.
A month earlier, the jury had returned its verdict after two days of deliberation. The 12 jurors – nine women and three men – came to the unanimous conclusion that the man assaulted the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt in October 2017.
Recall that the complainant recounted having lived an “endless night” in the Rimouski apartment of the ex-politician, some 30 years her senior.
She slept with a colleague at Mr. LeBel’s on a business trip. The evening was going off without a hitch and her friend had gone to bed in a bedroom when the man suddenly and without warning attempted to kiss the victim.
The young woman, whose identity is still protected by a court order, explained to the court that he then undid her bra, then spent the night touching her while she lay motionless, unable to sleep.
The 60-year-old ex-politician proclaimed his innocence. He instead told the court that their kiss was consensual. According to him, he simply lay down in the same bed as the complainant, then woke up with his arms on her randomly from sleep. The jury didn’t believe him.