Victoriaville Tigres general manager Kevin Cloutier made a public statement Tuesday, following the decision rendered the day before by Judge Thomas Jacques in the case of two of his former players found guilty of sexual assault. Mr. Cloutier acknowledged having viewed a video in which one of the players has sexual intercourse with a woman, but said he asked for the video to be deleted. This version contradicts the one presented in the documents filed with the court by both parties.
Contacted by The dutyKevin Cloutier declined our interview request. He made a media appearance in The Quebec Journal a few hours before Nicolas Daigle and Massimo Siciliano appealed the sentence handed down the day before and asked to be released pending the proceedings. On this occasion, he returned to the incidents of the evening of June 5, 2021, during which the two offenders, then aged 18, sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl. At the time of the events, Nicolas Daigle took a video without the victim’s knowledge while his teammate was in the middle of sex. Later in the evening, he showed the video to members of the team and a coach, Kevin Cloutier.
The joint statement of facts, a document signed by the Crown, the defence and the offenders, Nicolas Daigle and Massimo Siciliano, constitutes the official version of events as heard in court. “This one [Nicolas Daigle] exhibits the [sic] video taken [sic] Earlier, in the conference room where the festivities were taking place, a few people, namely members of the hockey team and a coach. An employee of the Entourage [l’hôtel où ont eu lieu les faits] who is on duty that evening intervenes. She asks and makes sure that the [sic] video be deleted, which Nicolas Daigle is doing,” we can read in the document.
A version very different from the one presented by Mr. Cloutier during his interview, who believes he acted as a “good father” by personally asking Nicolas Daigle to delete the video. “As soon as I saw the video, I told him he had no business showing it to other people. I told him to delete it right away and he did,” he told the Quebec Journal.
Mr. Cloutier added that the letter of support for Nicolas Daigle that he produced, in which he described the player as “respectful,” “highly appreciated” and “disciplined,” was not intended to “endorse his actions.” “I was not there to defend the accused […]”I was asked to tell how he had been at our house from the time he arrived until before the incidents. So I wrote the same thing that I had told the police. The only difference is that the defense had it in writing,” he said during his interview.
Silence of the organizations involved
Neither the Maritimes Quebec Junior Hockey League nor the Victoriaville Tigres wanted to offer their comments. Questioned about the explanations given by his general manager, the Tigres’ director of communications, Louis-Philippe Carbonneau, indicated to the Duty : “What was said in the interview, you can rely on that.” The League, for its part, indicated that it considered that during the interview, Mr. Cloutier spoke on its behalf.
The League and the team reacted jointly on Monday following the sentencing of Nicolas Daigle and Massimo Siciliano to 32 months and 30 months in prison for sexually assaulting a minor: “Our thoughts are with the victim, who reported a serious act. Justice was then served. At the league, just like with the Tigers, there is zero tolerance for any form of abuse.”
The judge noted numerous aggravating factors in this case, noting in his decision that it was “collective sexual exploitation of a vulnerable adolescent, in a context of abuse of trust, involving significant attacks on her physical and sexual integrity, and leading to serious and multiple repercussions.”
Mr. Daigle was also found guilty of filming the assault and sharing it with teammates and a coach during the hotel celebrations, warranting a longer sentence in his case.
Judge Jacques considered that the acts were very serious, that they “cannot be tolerated and must be denounced”. He paid tribute to the “courage” of the victim, who experienced stress and anxiety after the events and her denunciation, compromising her studies.