Spa crasher leaves group in hot water

It apparently was a wild Saturday night in La Pêche.

Police called to an assault came across a car full of curfew-breakers and followed the tracks to an illicit cottage party.

There they learned that the man reporting he had been assaulted had earlier arrived at the party “without being invited and took off all his clothes in order to join the ladies who were in the spa.”

MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais police were first called to the home of a 34-year-old man who reported he'd been injured in an assault.

On their way with paramedics to see the victim, officers came across a suspicious vehicle.

Inside were four women and a man, all from Ottawa, who were coming from a nearby cottage.

Given the hour — it was 1:40 a.m. — the five were ticketed for violating the curfew that is part of Quebec's COVID-19 restrictions.

Once officers got to the assault victim's address, they learned that he'd travelled by snowmobile to a nearby cottage and returned home hurt. He was taken to hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

“At this point, few details were available and it was unclear what exactly happened,” police said.

So police followed the tracks of the vehicle seen earlier to a cottage, where officers found six women and three men, aged 19 to 23.

They were told that the unwelcome guest had stripped to join the women in the hot tub in an incident captured on cellphone video. The man's “plan did not work” — he was allegedly assaulted when he tried to get into the house, police said.

Along with the Ottawa residents fined earlier, the nine people in the cottage were fined for gathering that violated COVID-19 restrictions. The was fined for violating the curfew and for disturbing the peace.

One of the women was also cited for lying to officers about her name, police said.

Police issued a total of 15 tickets for $1,550 each and two for $499.