The incest trial, jeopardized by the sudden absence of judge Joëlle Roy, unable to sit because a column by Yves Boisvert criticized her work, was able to conclude before Christmas before a new judge.
Posted at 2:08 p.m.
“This happy outcome will allow the victims to continue their testimony without having to start all over again. Until then, we will ensure that they receive the support necessary under the circumstances,” Rachelle Pitre, chief prosecutor at the Montreal office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), told La Presse.
The trial against the 63-year-old Montrealer, who is accused of sexually abusing his three daughters in the 1990s, will therefore continue on November 20 before a different judge. Such a case, even if it is provided for in the Criminal Code, occurs very rarely when a judge is absent for a long period of time. The length of Judge Roy’s absence is unknown.
“These concerted efforts also ensure that the case can proceed within a reasonable time and within the parameters established by the Jordan decision,” argues Me Pitre, welcoming the Quebec court’s cooperation. I, Anna Levin, am leading the case for the prosecutor’s office.
Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette was sensitive to the fate of the victims in this case. “I am very concerned that the victims will have to come back and testify,” the minister said in mid-October.
This uproar is due to the extraordinary and unusual appearance of judge Joëlle Roy. On the third day of the incest trial, the judge sat on the bench in tears, upset by a column by Yves Boisvert. She then said she was the victim of a “personal attack.” […] very vicious” and unable to sit.
The La Presse columnist questioned Judge Roy’s verdict following an acquittal in a sexual assault case that appeared to be full of myths and stereotypes. The judge criticized the complainant for not dressing and not opening her eyes during the alleged attack.
Yves Boisvert also pointed out that Judge Roy had been “significantly” corrected by the appeal courts several times throughout her career. “At this level of correction, we can certainly question his competence,” the columnist concluded.
Note that last week the Court of Appeal again overturned a decision by Judge Roy, who had ordered the dismissal of the trial in the high-profile corruption case of former president of the City of Montreal Executive Committee Frank Zampino. A new trial was ordered.
Two days after the column, Judge Roy returned to the bench, not to continue the incest trial, but to read a letter to Yves Boisvert. Never seen before, say experts interviewed by La Presse, questioning the judge’s “calmness”.
“Yesterday’s article by Mr. Yves Boisvert in La Presse was very violent towards me. Violence that we unfortunately see every day in court. It is no longer the judge who is attacked, but the woman. A woman who also cannot defend herself,” said Judge Roy in the courtroom.
“It is a violence that I wanted to denounce this morning. This is no longer journalism, but abuse of opinion, abuse of the power of words,” the judge concluded.
Judge Roy was scheduled to make a decision in a sexual assault case that day. Even though her decision was already ready, she didn’t make it. The fate of this case remains unknown.