AN ADAMANT DENIAL
Brian Boucher, who is facing several charges of sexual assault and abuse of a minor while he served as parish priest in Town of Mount Royal, testified on Thursday that he was ‘shocked’ when he first learned of the allegations.
Wearing his Roman collar and glasses, Brian Boucher adjusted his blazer’s front buttons, stepped into the witness box and rested his right hand on the Bible. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?” the court clerk asked. “I do,” he answered. “Your name?” “Brian Boucher,” he said, quickly adding: “Father Brian Boucher.” With that, Boucher, 56, began to testify in his defence at the Montreal courthouse Thursday. The Catholic priest is on trial for charges alleging he repeatedly sexually assaulted and abused a minor while he served as parish priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Town of Mount Royal. In his testimony, Boucher said he was “shocked” when he first learned of the allegations and repeatedly denied them. “Absolutely not,” he answered when asked if the alleged acts ever took place. “No, it didn’t happen,” he said at another point. “I definitely didn’t participate in any such activities.” The victim, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, alleges Boucher began abusing him when he was 12 years old. It started by Boucher questioning him about sexuality. He alleges the abuse continued for three years, between 2008 and 2011, and took place in the church rectory. It was frequent, included oral sex, and escalated to anal penetration. On the stand, Boucher described how he was friends with the alleged victim’s family. The boy was an altar boy and later volunteered and worked for the parish. Boucher said the only conversation he ever had with the alleged victim related to anything sexual came after an “incident” with the boy’s girlfriend at the church, while he was working. “The absolute betrayal on (his) part. I had trusted him 110 per cent, and … right there, in the church,” Boucher said. “He engaged in these immoral acts with this girl.” From that point on, Boucher said, their relationship became “strained.” They later went on three trips together, including one to Mexico for his 18th birthday, in hopes of working on it, Boucher said. One of the reasons Boucher said it’s impossible the abuse happened was because one of the parish’s employees would have still been present in the rectory when it’s alleged the acts took place. Called to testify by the defence on Thursday, the employee said they had a “friendly, good working relationship” with Boucher. The employee said Boucher required they be “present or in the vicinity” when he was meeting with parishioners in his office so they could “more or less observe what was taking place.” In cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Annabelle Sheppard asked the employee about a recorded phone call they had with Bishop Thomas Dowd, the auxiliary bishop of Montreal, in December 2015.
‘CONTROLLING’
In the phone call, the employee described the relationship with Boucher as “controlling.” The employee later sent Dowd a letter retracting the comments, but, Sheppard pointed out, the letter came after the employee discussed the phone call with Boucher. “Was he, in fact, controlling with you?” Sheppard asked. “At times,” the employee answered. “Did he ever threaten to fire you?” “Possibly, yes.” “And when you spoke with Bishop Dowd,” Sheppard then asked, “you were telling him the truth?” “Yes, I was.” Boucher has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual touching. He is scheduled for a separate trial in January in which two men allege similar abuse. Boucher is free on bail, but was relieved of church duties in 2015. He has worked in churches in Montreal, LaSalle, Dorval, Town of Mount Royal and Senneville and served as chaplain at McGill University. The trial continues Friday with his cross-examination.