“I didn’t do it”: this is what Thierry Karsenti, a teaching authority, who is accused of sexual contact with a minor, hammered Wednesday at the Longueuil courthouse.
The alleged victim, whose identity is protected by the court, alleges that Thierry Karsenti fondled her genitals a dozen times, in a residence in Brossard in 2015. At another time, the accused would have forced the door bathroom to observe the 11-year-old boy taking a shower. The touching allegedly took place over a period of just over a year.
“You heard [the plaintiff] mention that you went to his room about 10 times to do sexual touching,” lawyer Clara Daviault asked her client.
“I didn’t,” replied the former professor of education at the University of Montreal. The internationally renowned researcher also held the Canada Research Chair in Information and Communication Technologies. He directed the Interuniversity Research Center on Training and the Teaching Profession.
“Can you comment on the event where [the complainant] mentions that you unlocked the bathroom door and spent 2-3 minutes watching him while he was in the shower? “, added Me Daviault.
“I didn’t,” the 54-year-old replied again.
In 2019, a former spouse of Thierry Karsenti contacted the mother of the alleged victim. “She expressed things to me that worried me,” the plaintiff’s mother said during her testimony on Tuesday.
It was at this time that she questioned her son and that the latter confided in the abuse he allegedly suffered when he was a minor.
Thierry Karsenti was arrested in February 2021. He is no longer employed by the University of Montreal. The pleadings are to be held on Wednesday afternoon before Judge Ann-Mary Beauchemin. The latter will make its decision in the coming months.