The jury has been deliberating for seven days at the trial of a Montrealer accused of having repeatedly committed sordid sexual assaults against a pre-adolescent girl. The jurors are unaware, however, that the accused would have made another victim aged 10 at the same time, according to the Crown.
Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete is charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and incitement to sexual touching of a minor under the age of 16. The complainant, Victoria*, was 11 years old when the first attacks took place between 2017 and 2020 in Montreal.
At trial, Victoria told the jury of numerous separate episodes of rough and degrading sex she suffered over two years, including one time the defendant “celebrated” the loss of the 12-year-old’s virginity. The details of some assaults are particularly disturbing.
“He said ‘get up’. He pushed me towards the table. […] It hurt. I wanted him to stop. He said I was weak. He said ‘it’ It’s nothing, you’ll get used to it,” Victoria described.
Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete strongly denies having committed these attacks and accuses the teenager of having threatened to file a false complaint against him if he refused to pay for cosmetic surgery. “You have until tomorrow to give me an answer, otherwise I will ruin your life,” the complainant had told him, according to the accused.
Prior to the start of the trial, the Crown attempted to have “similar fact” evidence admitted. However, the judge refused. Thus, the jury was not made aware of this information. Since the jurors are now in deliberation, we can reveal them.
In 2019, Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete was charged with sexual assault, sexual contact and sexual exploitation of Karine*, a minor. The case, however, ended with an acquittal in 2021, since the prosecution did not offer evidence. Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete then signed an “810”, a peace bond.
The two complainants both suffered assaults of great similarity, including vaginal and anal penetration, argues prosecutor Me Jérôme Laflamme in a motion filed in December 2022. The two teenagers did not know each other, which reinforces the value similar fact evidence, according to the Crown.
In both cases, the Crown alleges that the two teenage girls received “rewards” from the man in “exchange” for the sexual acts. Moreover, the events are “so contemporaneous that they overlap over a period of approximately one and a half years”, claims the Crown.
According to a summary of the facts presented in the petition, Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete allegedly sexually assaulted Karine for six years. The first assault allegedly took place when the girl was just 10 years old in 2012. “He pulled down his pants and his, and rubbed his penis on [Karine’s] vulva, while she was on all fours.” , as described in the document.
Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete allegedly assaulted Karine for the last time in 2019, when she was 16 years old. At the time, the teenager had “debts” to him. “Abuse has been extensive, including penetration events, at least once a week for several years,” the summary of facts relates.
On one occasion, Karine was attacked in the garage where Miguel Antonio Abarzua Poblete worked. At the jury trial, Victoria described in detail an extremely brutal assault suffered there.
The jurors have been deliberating since Tuesday afternoon. They must be unanimous to render a verdict.
Me Hussein Hassan and Me Nadine Haviernick represent the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions at trial, while Me Marc Labelle and Me Claudia Doyle defend the accused.
