On the second day of the trial of police officer Samuel Ducharme accused of sexually assaulting her, the officer whose complainant denounced the accused’s actions testified Tuesday morning.
• Read more: Sherbrooke police officer sexual assault trial begins
On August 24, 2021, when he was informed about the case, Sergeant Stephen Cote, who was in charge of surveillance of the area, said: “I realized that the young lady was helpless in the face of the situation, she was crying and needed help. I didn’t expect it at all, my hands fell to the ground,” the 26-year-old police officer explained his reaction.
The witness said that after hearing what he said, he sent the complainant to his superiors. A few days later, the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) took over the case.
During her all-day testimony Monday, the complainant noted that she knew Samuel Ducharme liked to talk a lot about sex, make jokes, refer to sexuality and use double entendres.
Recall that on the evening of August 19, 2021, a police officer on patrol allegedly tried to kiss the young woman, although she repeatedly said no: “I told him no many times, and I did not do it. I wasn’t interested because I had a partner and it didn’t interest me,” the complainant testified to Quebec court judge Serge Chamboux on Monday.
Samuel Ducharme | Archive Screenshot | VAT News
Samuel Ducharme would then caress her hair and the back of her ear, lick her elbow and kiss her hand.
The touch would have continued, the young woman said, her voice shaking and knotted with emotion: “He put his hand on my thigh to slide slowly to my crotch. When he came close to my upper thigh, I grabbed his arm and pushed him away.”
The accused would have tried several times to take the breast with his hand, but the young woman would have succeeded in resisting him each time.
On the evening of the events, the accused’s personal vehicle was parked in the Thibaut GM parking lot near the Triolet School gymnasiums.
This is where the alleged victim went to see the 41-year-old policeman after his shift.
Before leaving, the plaintiff admitted to patting the accused on the cheek.
“I let him do it, not because I wanted to or for pleasure, but above all so he could get out soon and it would be over,” the young woman testified Monday.
In cross-examination, police officer Ducharmi’s lawyer, M Ariane Bergeron St-Onge, suggested to the complainant that the whole affair was just a consensual flirtation, to which she replied that it was completely false, saying, ‘He did not consent to any of the actions the accused allegedly took.
Thibaut, the third witness presented by the government this morning, is the director of the GM complex.
Simon Dion testified that a week after the events (August 26, 2021), the accused went to the arena to view images from surveillance cameras overlooking the parking lot.
Samuel Ducharme was in civilian clothes and not on duty that day; He gave no reason to justify his claim.
He granted the policeman’s request as he thought the vehicle might have been abused.
The camera, which overlooks the main parking lot, did not record the requested images between 11pm and 11:10pm because it was triggered by a motion detector and nothing was happening there.
“Mr. Ducharme seemed upset and disappointed to me,” Simon Dion noted in his testimony.
