The police officer who is accused of assaulting a citizen while on duty was convinced he shared “love at first sight” with the alleged victim.
From their first verbal exchanges at a gas station, Yannick Dauphinais felt that there was a “beautiful chemistry” that was established between a citizen and him. The latter cannot be identified due to a court order.
“She was looking at me with sparkling eyes, I thought […] She had a smile. She was laughing,” he explained at the Longueuil courthouse on Wednesday.
The detective sergeant of the Roussillon Intermunicipal Police Board met the complainant on July 20, 2021, when he was filling the gas tank of his patrol car. After a short discussion, he suggested that the woman follow her to the parking lot of the IGA where she was going, a few meters further. There, he asked her for her phone number.
The next day at 9:30 a.m., the officer texted the woman to offer to visit. “I just wanted to say hello to him,” Yannick Dauphinais explained during his testimony. She accepted, specifying that she had to leave quickly for her job.
The policeman said he spoke with the woman in her kitchen. Before leaving, he was surprised that she hugged his neck and kissed him. She then allegedly massaged his crotch over his clothes, undid his pants and masturbated him until he ejaculated a few minutes later.
The alleged victim, however, presented a very different version of this morning, Monday. She said that it was the policeman who kissed her, touched her breasts and buttocks. After pretending she was on her period, he allegedly asked her for “a treat,” she said. She would have masturbated him in order to avoid penetration, because she feared the reaction of the man with whom she had discussed barely 10 minutes the day before.
During his defense, Yannick Dauphinais indicated that he was convinced that the woman was in agreement with the gestures made. “I had an honest belief that she was consenting,” he said. “She brought her hand to my neck. She was massaging me. She opened her mouth. She stuck out her tongue. She was the one who initiated and undertook things,” he argued.
The man said he has been under a lot of stress since the sexual assault charge was filed. “It’s heavy, it’s stressful, it’s publicized the trial. I don’t sleep too much. I know that I did nothing, that I am innocent, ”he pleaded.
In cross-examination, prosecutor Amélie Rivard asked the accused if his police uniform could have inspired confidence in the complainant and what led him to believe that the latter had flirted with him.
“When she’s kissing you, when you’re at her house, in uniform, do you have a moral dilemma?” asked Me Rivard. “Since I was on a break and she was ok with me going to her house and she was the one who kissed me, no, I had no dilemma,” replied the ‘accused.
From the evening of July 22, the woman confided in a friend about the events that occurred in the morning. The next day, she also spoke to her employer, who encouraged her to file a complaint. He also paid her a taxi to go to the nearest police station. The Office of Independent Investigations conducted the investigation and charges were filed in September 2021.
Oral arguments will take place on Thursday before Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud. The decision will be made later.
