Who is telling the truth? This is what the judge will now have to decide at the trial of a former police officer from the South Shore accused of having sexually assaulted a student at her home and who defends herself by arguing that she was rather consenting.
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“In some files, there is a gray area. Here on the main thing, it’s clear, someone lied to me this week. The two versions are difficult to reconcile, ”dropped Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud during the pleadings today in the Yannick Dauphinais case.
The former intermediate sergeant at the Roussillon intermunicipal police board has been on trial since Monday at the Longueuil courthouse.
The 43-year-old man met the complainant in the summer of 2021 at a gas station, then followed her into the parking lot of an IGA to ask for her cell number.
The next morning, he asked her for her address by text message and then invited himself to her house during her break where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. The complainant was rather consenting to the relationship, according to Dauphinais.
The then 28-year-old woman gave him her cell phone number at IGA, answered his texts and even invited him to her home, said defense attorney Ms.e Felix Remillard-Larose. It would even be her “who unzipped his pants and took out his [sexe] to masturbate him,” pleaded the lawyer.
Romanticized and exaggerated
“Reread the text messages, you will understand that she never invited him. He has none of that in the evidence, ”suggested in court the Crown prosecutor, Ms.e Amelie Rivard.
The romanticized version of Dauphinais is exaggerated and “does not deserve to be believed”, she believes.
” In the head [de l’accusé], there may have been a flirtation. In fact, when we take the testimony of the complainant, the text messages and the surveillance cameras, there is no flirtation. Above all, there is an individual who imposes himself, ”said Mr.e Rivard.
Especially since in the hour following the alleged assault, the woman expressed her state of distress to a friend by text message, then in person the same evening. In a fit of tears, she also confided everything to her boss in the following days. They testified to this during the trial.
“There is nothing other than aggression to justify this state. When the accused speaks of a beautiful chemistry, of love at first sight between the two, it is hardly compatible with the rest of the evidence. It undermines his credibility,” said M.e Rivard.
The prosecutor also notes the policeman’s uniform, especially when he approaches the woman: “We cannot ignore that he has a uniform, a belt, a weapon, a police car. It admits some power […], but he is not able to recognize the impact. It is completely unreasonable. »
The judge will deliver his verdict in July.