Figure skating coach Richard Gauthier sexually assaulted a young athlete by washing each other and then sleeping with him, the Crown pleaded on Friday. On the contrary, even if he was naked with the teenager, the accused did not make any gesture of a sexual nature, maintained the defense.
Posted at 4:47 p.m.
“It’s clear: there was no masturbation, no body washing, no massage, no sleeping on a spoon, and no masturbation, he, in bed. The allegations are denied,” said defense attorney M.and Giuseppe Battista during oral arguments Friday at the Montreal courthouse.
Inducted into the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2017, Richard Gauthier has been on trial since Tuesday for crimes committed against a boy he was training in the early 1980s. He is accused of gross indecency, sexual assault and indecent assault. The child was between 11 and 14 years old at the material time.
Contrary to the sometimes “incredible” account of the accused, the complainant gave “emotional, sincere and reliable” testimony by recounting “specific memories”, argued Crown Prosecutor Ms.and Amelie Rivard. ” [Le plaignant] did not try to make the facts worse,” she stressed.
The plaintiff claims to have been sexually assaulted on several occasions by Richard Gauthier. He claims to have taken part in a “ritual” of “sauna bath” in the apartment of his trainer, then to have showered naked with the latter. “He was washing my back, my legs and going through my buttocks,” he said.
According to the plaintiff, Richard Gauthier then went to bed naked “in a spoon”, his penis stuck against him. “He said to me: ‟I love you, you are like my little brother”, he testified. He was also traumatized by an erotic massage, where the coach touched his testicles, as only by an episode of masturbation in the swimming pool.
Richard Gauthier denies having made any gesture of a sexual nature, but concedes having taken a shower naked at the same time as the teenager, then having slept naked with him in the same bed. He explains that he has not put on any underwear in order to avoid making the boy “uncomfortable”. In addition, he adds that he saw two erections in the teenager before going to bed.
In the eyes of the Crown, “the escalation” is obvious: “It is impossible that it be devoid of sexual interest: nudity, proximity, erections. Red flags, there were several. […] We have a child who has had two erections, and despite everything, he goes to bed naked with his young athlete of 14 years and he does not want to make a case of it. It is incredible, ”pleaded M.and Rivard.
Moreover, in a recorded discussion with the complainant, it is “very clear” that the accused agreed to having washed each other with the teenager, underlined the prosecutor.
According to the defence, Richard Gauthier “in no way fueled the plaintiff’s sexual desire, quite the contrary”. “Could he have acted differently?” Certainly. But he never had any malicious intent or to take advantage of anyone,” Ms.and Battista.
Richard Gauthier’s testimony is “credible and reliable” and “his version has not been shaken, even less deconstructed”, maintained the defense, scratching the “reliability” of the complainant’s memories.
The pleadings will continue next May before Judge Josée Bélanger.