Dominique Laroche is accused of sexual crimes against a teenager and is calling for the case against him to be dropped because he was detained for around ten hours on the day of his arrest and, according to him, committed police ill-treatment.
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Five minutes into his interrogation on June 2, 2021, Dominique Laroche told detective Pierre-Luc Morin that he had no intention of speaking.
“On the advice of my lawyer, I will not answer your questions,” the defendant says in the video of the interrogation, which was shown in court on Monday at the opening of his application for a stay of proceedings.
Screenshot, video submitted as evidence in court
When the investigator questions him further in the following minutes, Laroche sticks to his course.
“Listen carefully: I don’t answer anything. Today it’s easy, I don’t answer anything,” he emphasizes. In the first few hours, Laroche only answers simple and general questions, especially about skiing or his family.
Abuse and “fraud”
Despite this refusal, the police interrogation lasted more than 11 hours. The defendant’s lawyer, Me Stéphanie Pelletier-Quirion, accuses the authorities of this.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
According to the defense, Dominique Laroche, who was arrested on an arrest warrant, should have been released quickly because he had been promised to appear at a later date.
The police officers’ actions therefore constituted an abuse and their insistence on further questioning the suspect as part of the arrest warrant in question would be “a police ruse”.
The defense is calling for a halt to the proceedings, which would mean simply canceling the planned trial against Dominique Laroche. Crown prosecutor Me Michel Bérubé argues such a measure would be excessive.
Shocked spouse
In total, six charges of a sexual nature have been filed against Dominique Laroche for alleged actions against a teenage girl close to him that allegedly took place from 2007 to 2020.
Testimony from two Sûreté du Québec police officers provided insight into Laroche’s arrest Monday morning. In total, the police met 24 witnesses as part of the investigation.
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
On the morning of June 2, 2021, officers waited until the suspect’s three children exited the home before proceeding. And when they read out the charges, his partner “fell to the floor” when he heard the complainant’s name in the file, Sergeant Morin said.
Dominique Laroche was then in the interrogation room from 9:13 a.m. to 8:23 p.m. The entire interrogation is presented as part of the application for a four-day stay of proceedings.
Who is Dominique Laroche?
Dominique Laroche is a well-known name in the world of freestyle skiing and, along with his brothers, is considered a pioneer of the discipline. He took part in several World Cup events, particularly in the early 1980s.
Archive photo
After his athletic career, he helped establish the National Acrobatics Training Center in Lac-Beauport and also worked as a television analyst at three Olympic Games.
The 63-year-old man had been working as a real estate agent in the Quebec region for around ten years at the time of his arrest.
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