(Joliette) Two teenage girls, ages 15 and 17, describe being gang raped by three young men. Her story was “probably” accurate, the judge said. However, doubts remain due to her poisoning. The three men were acquitted of the most serious charge, even though their testimony was “astonishing” and one of them was prepared to say “anything and everything.”
Posted at 4:05 p.m.
“We’re having a gangbang. »
These words, spoken by one of the defendants, seem to sum up that evening, which took place in the middle of a pandemic in April 2020, according to one complainant. A party between friends that combined drugs, alcohol and sex. An evening that is, however, portrayed very differently by the accused and the victims.
Nathan Kalvin Jean-François, 21, was found guilty of sexual assault of a minor under 16 years old at the Joliette courthouse on Monday. However, he was acquitted of the most serious charge of sexual assault involving another person. His co-defendants, Montrealers Tommy Nicolas Michaud, 21, and Dave Saint-Jean, 22, were acquitted on all charges.
Only the fourth co-defendant, who was tried before the youth chamber, is accused of participating in a gang rape. He was given a two-year suspended sentence. His identity is being protected because he was a minor at the time.
In particular, Judge Bruno Leclerc referred to the complainants as “young women” in his decision, even though they were 15 and 17 years old at the time of the crime. The judge also summarizes the young people's versions very briefly, making it difficult to understand what happened and the judge's arguments.
The two best friends consume cannabis before going to the party. As soon as they arrive, they accumulate “alcohol cannons”. The youngest therefore only remembers fragments of her evening. The eldest has some memory lapses but remembers more events.
Both plaintiffs describe a sinister gang rape: forced fellatio and full-on sexual intercourse involving multiple combinations of the defendants and the convicted minors. They assure us that they never agreed to these actions. According to the other teenager, the youngest was even unconscious at times.
A defendant “willing to say anything and everything”
The three co-defendants claim that the young people consented to every sexual encounter. According to them, it is even young girls who sometimes enter into sexual relationships. The three men made “astonishing” statements, said the judge.
Dave Saint-Jean is even portrayed by the judge as the type of witness who is “willing to say anything and everything to justify himself.” The defendant thus remembered the exact order in which a cannabis joint went down or the time shown on a dial at a particular point in time, three years later.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
In the photo: Dave Sant-Jean, Tommy Nicolas Michaud and Nathan Kalvin Jean François, 21 years old
Tommy Nicolas Michaud and Dave Saint-Jean – the two acquitted defendants – claim they did not see the plaintiffs drinking alcohol that evening. Furthermore, they did not detect any “poisoning” in the young people. In her eyes, they were “completely normal.”
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Dave Sant-Jean, 22 years old
However, videos submitted as evidence showed that the complainants were drunk, the judge found. Nathan Kalvin Jean-François even carries the 15-year-old in his arms so that she can rest after vomiting.
However, there is nothing that can “completely” reject the defendant’s statement, says Judge Leclerc, even if the actions described by the complainants “probably took place”. The judge therefore grants them the benefit of reasonable doubt.
“It is rather the statements of the complainants that should be treated with caution, given their state of intoxication and the possible, albeit involuntary, contamination of their versions,” the judge concludes.
In the judge's opinion, the complainants' statements are “not sufficient” to prove beyond a doubt that they are incapable of giving consent. However, the judge hardly elaborates on this issue and merely says that the applicants' statements are unreliable.
The case of Nathan Kalvin Jean-François is special. During the main interrogation, he himself admitted that he “didn’t pay attention” to whether the 15-year-old “agreed” during the sexual encounter. However, there is no implied consent in Canadian law.
Jean-François admitted that he had given the teenager “to her doggy style” after oral sex. He then handed her over again to continue the sexual relationship without caring whether she consented. He tried to defend himself under cross-examination by claiming he had said the “opposite” of his thoughts, but the judge didn't believe him.
Jean-François' lawyer, Me Ramy El Turaby, called for a pre-sentence report to be drawn up with a view to imposing the sentence.
I Andrew Nader and I Patrick Davis defended the other defendants, while I Ariane Roy-Drouin and I Roxane Gagné represented the prosecutor.