Three ex-collegial football players are currently undergoing a lawsuit for a group sexual assault case where consent will be scrutinized again, the two parties with completely different versions from each other.
«Elle [la victime alléguée] was participative, it was active. The atmosphere was good, everything was chill», Launched Kevin Myrthil estimated, who testified for his defense on Thursday at the Palais de Justice de Montréal.
Its version is very far from that of the complainant in this case. Earlier at the trial, she told how she would have been sexually assaulted by the three athletes at home 12 years ago. She claimed to have been surrounded by men, before launching a “no no, I don’t want”. She would have even tried to push one of them.
On the order of the court, it is prohibited to identify the alleged victim, who filed a complaint for years later.
Football meeting
At the time, an estimated Myrthil, 33, played in university football in Halifax. He had played at the college level in Montreal. Passing through the metropolis, he wanted to see his football friends again, Tresor Buama-Mafuta and Georges Jean-Louis.
The trio met with the complainant, and it is from there that the versions diverge, which is reminiscent of the trial of the five former players of the Canada Junior team, acquitted last month for sexual assault at the end of a watered evening in 2018, in London. They also pleaded that the complainant was consenting, a version that an Ontario judge believed.
In this case, the complainant had testified that everything degenerated into collective rape, despite her very clear refusal. At one point, one of the accused would have “sank of alcohol” in his mouth.
Myrthil estimated, however, swore before the court that it was “completely false”.
Questioned by his lawyer, Me Ouissam Akhrif, he rather described a scene where the young woman was “participative”, arguing that it would even be she who would have undertaken certain sexual acts.
And if the victim began to cry, an estimated Myrthil explains that it is a misunderstanding: two of the accused would have made fun of the erectile difficulties of their friend, but the complainant thought it was she who was targeted.
Counter-examined by the experienced prosecutor me Jérôme Laflamme, estimated, however, agreed that he had asked nothing before joining the sexual acts. He was sentenced in 2020 to more than three years in prison for bringing a minor to prostitute himself in Toronto.
Two versions, a verdict
The trial is planned to last a few more days. Judge Nadia Bérubé will then have to determine if she believes the accused version. Subsequently, she will be able to assess the testimony of the complainant.
It is only if the accused’s version is completely rejected and that of the complainant is convincing “out of any reasonable doubt” that the trio could be found guilty.
