Gilbert Rozon trial: the alleged victim ends his testimony

Gilbert Rozon’s trial continued Wednesday at the Montreal Courthouse. During cross-examination of the alleged victim, lawyers for the founder of Just for Laughs tried to destabilize her by raising the differences between her testimony and her statement made to the police in 2017.

The complainant, whose identity must remain confidential, accuses Gilbert Rozon of having raped her after an evening in a bar in Saint-Sauveur, 40 years earlier.

“I remember the constraint, the domination, the power to do something that I did not want him to do,” she told the judge on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning, lawyer Isabel Schurman cross-examined him on the absence of the words “oppression, domination, coercion, restriction, power and insistence” in her statement to the police.

To which the alleged victim replied that he had not been asked about his feelings, but rather to relate the events. “Words don’t exist [dans la déclaration], but I don’t deny what I said, ”she said.

“Can you confirm that you never told the police that you asked Rozon to stop?” Asked Master Schurman.

The 60-year-old woman then indicated that she did not remember the words exchanged at the time.

“This sequence is not clear. I know I wanted him to stop. I had already told him. It was not a consensual relationship on my side, ”she continued.

She ended her testimony by reiterating that she had not consented to the sexual relationship which allegedly began while she was still asleep.

Following evening

Sitting in the courtroom, Gilbert Rozon listens calmly.

The fallen humor tycoon is accused of rape and indecent assault for an event that allegedly occurred in 1980 in a house in Saint-Sauveur. The alleged victim was then 20 years old and working for a radio station in the Laurentians when she met Gilbert Rozon.

It was after spending the evening at a discotheque that the accused agreed to bring the complainant back to her parents. However, he decides to stop by his secretary to collect documents.

Inside the house, Rozon is said to have made advances to the young woman. “He threw himself on me to kiss me,” explained the alleged victim. I reacted, there was a tugging, we found ourselves on the ground, a button on my shirt got the hell out of it. He pulled up my skirt, I struggled, I told him to stop. ”

On the pretext of fatigue, the former boss of Just for Laughs refused to take her home to her parents. Instead, he invited the alleged victim to sleep there.

If she had fallen asleep on her own and did not feel “in danger”, Gilbert Rozon was on her when she woke up. “He was determined to have sex,” she said.

Faced with Gilbert Rozon’s “oppression”, “the only way out is to let him do it” she continued, insisting that sexual intercourse was not consented to.

Prosecution lawyer Bruno Ménard proposed a second witness, which the defense objected to. Justice Mélanie Hébert took the matter under advisement. The trial will continue in the afternoon.

Gilbert Rozon has always denied the accusations. He will testify at trial to defend himself.