The Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) ordered a Senegalese diplomat to pay her landlord in Gatineau $45,300 for ransacking her rented house, who was also arrested by police this month.
“The furniture is full of cockroaches. The furniture is worn and scratched. It’s missing. Everything is dirty. To cite just one more example, the tenant will use charcoal for the gas grill.”
Oumou Kalsoum Sall, a diplomat at the Senegalese embassy in Ottawa, caused nightmares for her owner, Michel Lemay.
Embassy of Senegal in Canada
This mom rented the lovely Gatineau home from 2018 to 2020. Judge Anne A. Laverdure stated that it was initially “tastefully” furnished and decorated.
“In May 2020 it turns out that the house is infested with cockroaches. Four treatments are carried out. That won’t do. […] As a result, the landlord has to dispose of almost all of his furniture,” the judge states.
The diplomat also used to shower with the door open, leading to multiple water damage in the home.
“The flooring in the basement is soaked and there is mold on the walls. […] The water damages the coating of the walls and seeps under the floor,” it reads.
Oumou Kalsoum Sall was therefore ordered to pay Michel Lemay $45,347.95 to replace the destroyed furniture, cleaning and repairing the structure of the house.
Listen to Félix Séguin’s legal chronicle on the microphone of Yasmine Abdelfadel on QUB radio:
A bailiff and police officers from Gatineau knocked on the door of the Senegalese embassy employee on August 2 for the case.
The officers faced “a person who was agitated and refused to cooperate,” according to the Service de Police de la Ville de Gatineau (SPVG). Two police officers were reportedly beaten and bitten when he was arrested.
In a press release released after the authorities intervened, Senegal’s Foreign Ministry accused the SPVG of “beating up” a diplomat at her home during a police operation on August 2.
“The Independent Investigations Bureau (BEI) has been retained to conduct an investigation and we are not authorized to disclose any information other than that which we have disclosed,” SPVG’s Mariane Leduc confirmed to the Journal last night.
Our interview request at the Senegalese embassy in Ottawa went unanswered.
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