At his trial, Eric Salvail avoids the testimony in court of three ex-colleagues
Éric Salvail, last September
Share November 9, 2020 10:08 am Updated at 11:25 am Share At his trial, Éric Salvail avoids the testimony in court of three ex-colleagues Stéphanie Marin The Canadian Press MONTREAL – Former host Eric Salvail avoided the testimony of three of his ex – coworkers in the courtroom Monday: the audio version of their statements to the police was instead filed in the file.
Eric Salvail was accused of sexual assault, harassment, and forcible confinement on a man in 1993, Donald Duguay, who worked with him at Radio-Canada.
Crown attorney, Me Amélie Rivard, intended to have three other people testify in court on Monday. According to what she had explained to the judge, these witnesses had to recount having also suffered sexual touching, exhibitionism or remarks of a sexual nature repeatedly on the part of Eric Salvail.
This rebuttal evidence was to be used to refute the testimony of the accused, who claims that he is not the type of person to commit the acts alleged by Donald Duguay. Me Rivard was seeking in this way to attack the credibility of Eric Salvail.
By proceeding with the filing of statements, the accused waives the right to cross-examine these three people.
Their declarations are therefore accepted as such by Judge Alexandre Dalmau of the Court of Quebec.
The accused was not present on Monday: he listened to the proceedings by videoconference.
The trial began in February in Montreal and lasted four days.
More specifically, the charges against Éric Salvail are as follows: Donald Duguay alleges that he was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in October 1993, that is, almost 27 years ago, in a Radio-Canada bathroom, after several months of advance, harassment, sexual comments and inappropriate touching in the workplace. On another occasion, the accused exhibited his sex to him, Mr. Duguay testified. He filed a complaint against the ex-host in 2017 and himself asked to be identified publicly.
Éric Salvail testified at his trial and denied all the allegations he was the subject of. He even described as “eccentric” the episode of sexual assault and kidnapping told by Donald Duguay.
The 51-year-old man has also argued on several occasions that he was no longer working at Radio-Canada when the actions for which he was accused were allegedly performed in a toilet of the crown corporation.
Pleadings will begin Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse. Two days are planned. The accused will not be present, he will listen to the performances by videoconference.
