Despite the Tribunal’s decision to dismiss his “wacky” and “non-credible” testimony which denoted “suspicious conduct”, a Montreal police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman whom he escorted back to her hotel room after the ‘having released from detention for public drunkenness gets away with an acquittal.
The first member of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) to be charged following an investigation by the Independent Investigations Bureau (BEI), Agent Roger Fréchette failed to convince Judge Lori Renée Weitzman of the nobility of his intentions on February 18, 2019, during and after his shift at the South Detention Center.
That night, the complainant, whose identity is subject to a publication ban, was arrested in downtown Montreal while she was celebrating Valentine’s Day with her former spouse. In “an advanced state of intoxication”, she has only a “hazy” memory of the events that led to her arrest. She also forgot large parts of the interactions she had with the police officer Fréchette, who was assigned to watch the cells at the downtown station where she was imprisoned while waiting for her to sober up.
Video evidence unveiled at trial showed that the complainant, who had soiled her pants during her arrest, stripped naked in her cell, keeping only her bra. Roger Fréchette then discussed with her, on the other side of the bars, for long minutes. To justify his presence, the policeman claimed that the woman had no inhibitions, and that his presence calmed her down and prevented her from making a din that disturbed the other inmates. The video shows, however, that the woman was uncomfortable and sought to hide sex with her sweater, the judge noted. “The way she sits on the bench is not an exhibitionist,” said the judge.
A few hours later, it is the same policeman Fréchette who authorized his release. As she had told him that she had lost her identity cards, her money, her coat and had no idea of the name of her hotel, he decided to wait for her outside the station, in his vehicle. staff, to help him find the place.
A “stupid” choice
Once the hotel was found, he accompanied her back to her room, claiming to want to make sure she would arrive safely. Mr. Fréchette himself testified that this choice was “silly”. “But being in a hotel room with a person he had just released from the post is more than just” silly, “said Judge Weitzman. [La plaignante] did not invite him to chat anywhere, but in his hotel room, which already has a certain sexual connotation. With more than thirty years of experience, as a police officer, and being in a stable couple relationship, he had to be aware of the danger to which he was exposing himself, both on an ethical and personal level. ”
The woman said that once in the room, the policeman started to touch her all over the body and that he took her hand to make his penis erect, which the policeman denied .
The judge, however, also rejected the memory-laden version of the complainant, whose testimony suffered from “fragility”, “inconsistencies”, and several “significant contradictions” revealed by the accounts of other witnesses. She pointed out a specific gesture that made her “frown”: a touching of the vulva, which had not been declared by the complainant in her initial denunciation to the police, but which she mentioned during her testimony. Certain interactions in the hotel room with the police “suggest a certain interest in having sexual contact”, believes the judge.
“Although one of the objectives of a criminal trial is the search for the truth, the evidence presented does not always provide a true and precise picture of the course of a targeted incident,” said Judge Weitzman.
“The Tribunal is unable to say what happened in the hotel room. Even if Mr. Fréchette’s testimony is dismissed as not being credible, this does not automatically mean that the testimony of [la plaignante] », She added
SPVM reaction
The Montreal Police Department said it took note of the judge’s decision, but did not specify whether the police officer, suspended with pay since the events, will return to his post now that he has been acquitted. ” [Le SPVM] will apply the Police Act as well as the procedures provided for when a police officer has been the subject of criminal charges, in such a way as to preserve public confidence, ”reacted spokesperson Gabrielle Fontaine-Giroux.
The Police Ethics Commissioner for his part indicated that Mr. Fréchette has not been the subject of any summons to appear to date.