Complainant testifies at Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin’s sex assault trial

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GATINEAU, Que. — Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin mentioned Tuesday that he’s not responsible of sexual assault and by no means had any bodily contact with a lady who made detailed allegations in opposition to him in courtroom this week.

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Talking in French on the second day of his trial, Fortin instructed a Gatineau, Que., courtroom that he was shocked and devastated to study of the allegations.

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The complainant in a sexual assault trial mentioned earlier Tuesday that Fortin was “definitely” the one who attacked her in her dorm room one night time in 1988.

Fortin was the navy officer in control of the federal authorities’s COVID-19 vaccine marketing campaign. He was faraway from the place in Might 2021 and charged with one rely of sexual assault three months later.

His defence lawyer, Isabel Schurman, has argued that the complainant incorrectly recognized Fortin.

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The complainant, whose identification is protected underneath a publication ban, testified on Monday that she wakened one night time on the navy school barracks in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and realized {that a} man had taken her hand and was masturbating himself with it, whereas his different hand was on her breast.

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She instructed the courtroom she opened her eye and acknowledged Fortin, then pushed him away and instructed him to get off her earlier than he backed away.

Fortin, in navy uniform, tented his fingers on the desk in entrance of him whereas he testified Tuesday, standing in the identical spot the place the complainant gave her testimony as he watched.

His lawyer requested detailed questions concerning the structure of the navy school and the barracks.

Fortin’s testimony shored up the complainant’s account that her door needed to stay unlocked. He mentioned doorways weren’t locked for hearth security causes, and outdoors doorways have been unlocked with nobody guarding them and verifying who got here and went.

He asserted that he by no means entered the room of the complainant or made any type of sexual overtures towards her.

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He has not but been cross-examined by the prosecution.

In her cross-examination of the complainant on Monday, Schurman identified variations between her testimony in courtroom versus accounts she gave to an investigator final yr on particulars such because the timing of the incident, whether or not she heard and acknowledged Fortin’s voice and whether or not her roommate was current.

In the course of the emotional conclusion of her testimony Tuesday morning, the complainant pushed again on the suggestion that her fuzziness on a few of the circumstances may solid doubt on her reminiscence of key particulars.

She mentioned, testifying in English, that she nonetheless has “nightmares” and a “recurring imaginative and prescient” of the assault — and although she will’t be 100 per cent certain of a few of the specifics 34 years later, she is ironclad on her attacker’s identification.

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“I can guarantee you definitely that it was Dany Fortin standing over me masturbating himself with my hand,” she mentioned. “I checked out him. I knew that man.”

Instantly after the encounter, she mentioned, she visited her then-boyfriend and instructed him about what occurred. She additionally testified that their relationship later soured and that they have been “undoubtedly not” on good phrases.

Her ex-boyfriend was referred to as as a witness by the defence on Tuesday. He acknowledged their relationship on the stand however instructed the courtroom in French that he had no reminiscence of the dialog, or of any interplay between the complainant and Fortin.

Throughout cross-examination, prosecutor Diane Legault requested whether or not he knew of any assaults on campus on the time. He mentioned he didn’t keep in mind having data of sexual assaults of a felony nature, however mentioned he witnessed discussions and an setting that may very well be described with the time period “sexual misconduct.”

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The complainant additionally testified on Monday that she believed her roommate was within the room in the course of the assault and will have been a witness — and that she later requested her roommate, with out providing specifics, whether or not she had seen or heard one thing.

Legault additionally referred to as the complainant’s former roommate to the stand.

Testifying in English, she corroborated the complainant’s account that they stayed collectively in a double room within the barracks on the time and that she, too, knew Fortin.

She mentioned she had reminiscences of getting enjoyable with Fortin, that he was a classmate and “camaraderie was anticipated.”

Her total expertise within the navy school was not optimistic, she mentioned. “You have been uncovered to a number of behaviours that in all probability weren’t acceptable.”

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She famous that they have been youngsters, a lot of them underneath the authorized consuming age and being pushed to their limits.

She mentioned she had no reminiscence of being requested about an incident by her then-roommate. “I’m not saying it didn’t occur, as a result of personally, from my very own trauma, I blocked a number of these reminiscences out,” she mentioned.

A senior member of the complainant’s chain of command was additionally referred to as to the stand on Tuesday and confirmed that the complainant reported the assault to him in early 2021.

Along with defending himself in his felony case, which is being heard by Decide Richard Meredith, Fortin can be difficult his elimination from the vaccine marketing campaign in Federal Courtroom.

He testified Tuesday that he didn’t know what he was being investigated for when he was taken out of the place, however that he knew the Privy Council Workplace and Prime Minister’s Workplace have been concerned within the choice. He mentioned he discovered concerning the nature of the investigation by way of media studies.

Fortin added that his life is the wrong way up, his profession is stymied, his monetary scenario is precarious and his household is struggling due to what he referred to as a “false accusation.”

The trial is predicted to proceed Oct. 24.