The founder of the planet-famed Just for Laughs comedy competition has been acquitted of prices of rape and indecent assault in a Montreal court docket.
Gilbert Rozon, 66, was charged in December 2018 in relation to acts allegedly committed in 1980 in Saint-Sauveur, Que. when he was twenty five decades outdated. His trial took location in front of a choose by yourself, again in October.
A woman told the trial that the amusement mogul experienced raped her in the ski-vacation resort city north of Montreal.
Quebec Court docket Judge Mélanie Hébert lifted the publication ban on the woman’s identity, at her request. Her title is Annick Charette, 60.
While reading through her ruling Tuesday, Hébert said she observed Charette’s testimony obvious and that the defence available no evidence her testimony could have been affected by many others.
But Hébert also noted that on numerous points Rozon’s testimony was regular.
She claimed the two Rozon and Charette’s testimonies had been credible, but that the prosecution was not able to establish guilt outside of a sensible doubt.
Charette spoke to reporters immediately after the ruling, saying she was deeply upset. She claimed the choice proved the justice system is flawed when it arrives to sexual assault instances.
“The encouraging winds of alter that are becoming felt in our society are however not nevertheless mirrored in a victim’s journey by the justice system,” Charette claimed in her statement.
“This system sets significant expectation for how the target performs all over the procedure, and specifically by their 1st testimony … While I am grateful for the investigators and prosecutors who have accompanied me all over this campaign, this procedure has been like a storm, reviving the trauma I skilled and a robust sense of powerlessness.”
Charette spoke with reporters at the Montreal courthouse subsequent the verdict. :36
However, she claimed she wished to persuade victims to occur forward in the hopes that the system will alter as they do.
“Do not be ashamed,” Charette claimed. “The guilt you truly feel is not yours.”
Rozon still left the Montreal courthouse devoid of commenting.
For the duration of the trial, a number of woman stood outdoors the courtroom in protest, wearing masks bearing the hashtag #MeToo, in reference to the international movement to denounce sexual assault.
14 complaints
Charette instructed the court docket she achieved Rozon in 1980 — three decades before he released his comedy competition — when he arrived to the radio station exactly where she worked to report publicity places.
She claimed he invited her out to a club immediately after get the job done. Afterward, Rozon claimed he was drained and refused to push her property, she claimed. He showed her to a space exactly where she could snooze.
Charette said the following detail she remembered was waking up with Rozon on leading of her, “decided.”
She claimed she didn’t don’t forget all the particulars of what followed, but she claimed she remembers searching out a window to the suitable of the mattress while it transpired.
Rozon testified that it was Charette who experienced initiated the experience.
Rozon’s prices mirror all those that had been on the textbooks in 1980 “rape” has given that been replaced by sexual assault in the existing version of the Felony Code.
The Crown prosecutor’s business office evaluated 14 complaints towards Rozon dating again to around the exact period, but only moved forward with two.
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