“He slid his right hand towards my crotch, under my dress.” One of the plaintiffs in the story of a bachelor party that allegedly ended in sexual assault and aggravated assault in September 2022 recounted on Monday the actions that allegedly triggered the cascade of events.
The trial for sexual assault of Martin Roussin-Bizier and for serious assault of Patrick Toussaint opened Monday at the Quebec City courthouse.
Martin Roussin-Bizier, accused of sexual assault for a bachelor party which ended badly on September 11, 2022. His friend Patrick Toussaint is accused of serious assault in this case. Credit; Pierre-Paul Biron, Journal de Québec
Pierre-Paul Biron
Patrick Toussaint, accused of serious assault for a bachelor party which ended badly on September 11, 2022. His friend Martin Roussin Bizier is accused of sexual assault in this case. Credit; Pierre-Paul Biron, Journal de Québec
Pierre-Paul Biron
The two friends celebrated Roussin-Bizier’s bachelor party on the night of September 10 to 11, 2022.
According to the crown’s claims, Martin Roussin-Bizier allegedly touched two young women who took photos with him while he was disguised as a woman. Then, a friend of the two alleged victims confronted the accused. Attempting to hit him in the face, he received a violent blow to the head from Patrick Toussaint with a metal cane.
Touched in the crotch
The first witness to be heard, one of the two young complainants, who was celebrating her birthday that evening, came to recount the actions that Martin Roussin-Bizier allegedly took against her.
According to her account, she was with her partner on a sidewalk waiting for a group of friends. It was there that the two accused, accompanied by a third individual, arrived on the scene. A friendly discussion begins and quickly the idea of taking a photo with the future groom dressed as a woman is launched. The latter was, it seems, insisting that the young woman “touch her fake breasts”.
Screenshot – Video submitted as evidence
“For the photo, he placed his arm behind me, with his hand on my upper thigh, directly on my skin. He brought his hand up and grabbed my right buttock,” the young adult recounted with emotion. “He slid his hand towards my crotch, very close to my vagina.”
Frozen, the complainant said on Monday that she closed her fists to stop herself “from screaming, from crying”.
On a video of the moment when the photo was taken as evidence, we see the young woman clenching her fist, without however seeing what is happening behind her.
“I didn’t consent at all”
After the photo, her partner continued to chat with Martin Roussin-Bizier’s two friends. The latter would have taken the opportunity to touch her breast.
“I took a step back and he said: ‘I have the right to that because you touched it earlier,’” she testified, speaking of the false breasts of the disguise. ‘accused.
“That doesn’t give him the right. I didn’t consent at all.”
Later in the evening, speaking about what had happened with friends, the young woman said she had learned that one of her friends had had a similar experience with Roussin-Bizier. It was at this moment that a friend allegedly started chasing the trio of partygoers.
When she saw this friend again, he was sitting on a bench, his face bloodied, she told judge Sarah-Julie Chicoine in tears.
Violent blow to the head
In a video submitted as evidence filmed by a witness, images which had already been published on social networks, we clearly see what caused the young man’s injuries.
Visibly angry at what allegedly happened, but also tipsy, the young complainant tries to attack Martin Roussin-Bizier, but is held back by Patrick Toussaint, who tells him to “calm down”.
Screenshot – Video submitted as evidence
At one point, the young man manages to free himself from Toussaint and attacks the man who was disguised as a woman that evening, landing a right hand in his face. It was there that Patrick Toussaint violently hit him on the head with a metal cane which was used in his friend’s disguise.
The video shows the victim violently collapse to the ground and the suspects run from the scene.
Scheduled for 6 days
The trial of the two friends from the Thetford Mines region is scheduled for six days.
The crown must in particular make the second alleged victim of sexual assault heard, in addition to the young man who received the blow to the head.
Martin Roussin-Bizier faces two counts of sexual assault, while Patrick Toussaint faces a charge of aggravated assault.