Quebec producer Luc Wiseman waived Thursday to undergo his preliminary investigation, choosing instead to plead guilty to a charge of sexually touching a minor. He will remain detained pending his sentence.
Posted at 8:35 a.m.
Updated at 11:31 a.m.
This means that this stage, which was initially to last two days at the Montreal courthouse and during which evidence was to be presented, will not take place.
By choosing to plead guilty, Luc Wiseman interrupted this legal process. The complainant and the other witnesses therefore did not have to testify, as was planned. In the courtroom, Judge Pierre Labelle told the producer that he had to understand that his choice means “there will be no trial”, to which the principal concerned replied in the affirmative.
Wiseman, now 65, faced five counts, including sexual assault, touching a person under 16, assault, and possession and production of child pornography. The events for which he is accused occurred between November 2018 and April 2021. The victim was then 11 years old.
The producer was granted a “stay with judgment” on the counts of sexual assault and assault, under the Kienapple ruling, under which a defendant cannot be convicted twice for the same offence. “As for the other two counts, the defense has provided certain elements which mean that we can no longer prove beyond any doubt the pornographic nature of the image in question”, indicated to The Press the Crown prosecutor, Mr.e Annabelle Shepard.
During the hearing, the lawyer read a letter written by the victim, which said that she did not understand “why he was touching me in my private parts”. “I regret the actions committed, which were not appropriate,” said Mr. Wiseman after the hearing, before heading to a detention facility. He said he hopes the victim will have support “to get through this ordeal”.
A sentence in August
Judge Labelle will now have to hand down his sentence at a hearing scheduled for August 26. The defense and the prosecution have, however, already made a joint suggestion to him, namely a prison sentence of two years a month and a day, accompanied by three years’ probation, during which Wiseman would have to undergo therapy. He also started one with a sexologist last December, according to his lawyer.
This sentence would also come with several conditions, including that of not being in contact or communicating with the complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. The producer would then also be required not to work or volunteer with minors or to be in certain places such as a daycare center, a school, playgrounds, or even to be in the presence of minors unless a responsible adult and aware of the conviction is also present.
“We also requested that the gentleman be placed on the sex offenders register for 20 years, and requested an order prohibiting the possession of a firearm or any prohibited weapon, under section 109 of the Criminal Code,” said Me Shepard.
Last June, Luc Wiseman had already had a series of additional conditions imposed on him pending further legal proceedings so that he would stay away from young people under the age of 16.
Arrested in May 2021 by investigators from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Wiseman was until then the president and owner of the production company Avanti Groupe, which notably produces the popular show Everybody talks about it and in the past, successes like The little life.
The company later confirmed that Mr. Wiseman left office due to the charges against him. His lawyer had first announced that his client “will plead not guilty at the appropriate time” and that he was “determined to defend himself against these charges”.
” I did not expect that. I am very sorry for the victim, a minor. It upsets me, ”also reacted in the wake of Guy A. Lepage, the host of the popular show Everybody talks about it, of which Mr. Wiseman was a co-producer until the time of his arrest. “I am devastated and, quite honestly, in tabarnak “, had again insisted Mr. Lepage.
With The Canadian Press