Guy Cloutier has to pay $15,000 in damages to a woman who claims she was attacked by the ex-impresario when she dreamed of becoming an actress in the 1970s.
• Also read: An alleged victim of Guy Cloutier is suing him for petty claims
“So far, the psychological consequences suffered by the plaintiff have been significant,” said Judge Yves Hamel of the Small Claims Court.
Judge Hamel therefore agrees with Michelle Charron, who testified that she was sexually assaulted by Guy Cloutier in a Montreal hotel room in 1977 while attempting to break into Quebec show business.
Ms Charron, 65, appealed to the Small Claims Division of the Quebec Court in September 2020.
She demanded $15,000 for lost wages, psychological trauma and the end of her career.
PHOTO QMI AGENCY, MARIO BEAUREGARD
Crucial meeting
Michelle Charron, fresh out of puberty, dreamed of being an actress when she first met Guy Cloutier at a restaurant in Gatineau where she worked.
René Simard’s manager at the time then exchanged his number with that of the victim.
“She claims to have seen him again a few months later after a phone exchange in Montreal. At this point, the plaintiff specifies that the defendant is courting her and promising her a great artistic career,” said Judge Hamel in his verdict on Tuesday.
Guy Cloutier then decided to organize a commercial starring singers Johnny Farago and Michelle Charron.
The ex-impresario even had an article published in Echos Vedettes magazine, describing the then 19-year-old victim as “the new darling of Quebecers.”
About a week before the commercial was taped, the two met in a hotel room on Place Dupuis in Montreal paid for by Cloutier, then 37.
“The plaintiff alleges that he was frozen at the time of the sexual violence, rather than fleeing or fighting or fighting the accused, which is probable and plausible,” we can read.
Only decades later, during the emergence of the Moi Aussi movement, “does Michelle Charron accept and acknowledge what she experienced as sexual violence at the hands of the accused in 1977”, we specify.
Ms. Charron underwent numerous sessions with psychologists and psychiatrists following the incident, she testified at the Montreal courthouse last February.
“The plaintiff attributes a significant part of her problems with alcohol, consumption and her sometimes considerable psychological disorganization to the sexual violence she suffered in 1977,” the judge explains.
Guy Cloutier has been sacked
Guy Cloutier, now 83, did not appear at the trial. He merely sent an affidavit in his defense.
However, Judge Hamel ruled that it “is not sufficient to overturn or significantly weaken the detailed and consistent version submitted by the plaintiff”.
“The court attaches little or no probative value to the defendant’s written evidence” because it “must be able to assess its seriousness, sincerity, accuracy and truthfulness,” the judge specifies.
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