‘It wasn’t consensual, it’s just too much, I don’t have the strength’
Rape trial of Just for Laughs founder Rozon starts in Montreal
MONTREAL — A woman told Gilbert Rozon’s sex-assault trial Tuesday the entertainment mogul raped her 40 years ago in aski-resort town north of Montreal.
Decades later, she said she’s still angry about the incident.
Rozon, 65, is accused of rape and indecent assault for acts allegedly committed in 1980. His trial opened Tuesday.
He was charged in December 2018 with offences that allegedly took place when he was 25 years old in St-Sauveur, Que.
The founder of the Just for Laughs comedy festival did not comment as he arrived at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday morning surrounded by several supporters.
Several women stood outside the courtroom in protest, donning masks bearing the hashtag #MeToo, in reference to the international movement to denounce sexual assault.
Tuesday’s testimony began when Crown prosecutor Bruno Menard asked the complainant to identity her rapist. She pointed to Rozon.
The woman told the court she met him in 1980 when he came to the radio station where she worked, to record publicity spots. She said he invited her out to a club after work. Afterward, while driving her home, he proposed “necking,” which she said she declined.
“We’re not 15 years old,” said the complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
Rozon said he needed to get some documents at his secretary’s house in St-Sauveur, the woman said. She said she recalls sitting on a couch to wait for him.
When he came back, he “threw himself on me to kiss me, putting his hand down my neckline,” she said.
The woman testified she asked him to stop.
She said she fought with him and they fell to the ground. Rozon allegedly put his hand down her skirt and pulled at her underwear, she said.
Rozon said he was tired and refused to drive her home, she said. He showed her to a room where she could sleep.
The woman said the next thing she remembered was waking up with Rozon on top of her, “determined.”
She said she didn’t remember all the details of the alleged sexual assault that followed, but she said she recalls looking out a window to the right of the bed while it happened.
“It wasn’t consensual, it’s just too much, I don’t have the strength,” the woman said when asked to describe how she felt at the time. “’It’s ‘Hurry up, let’s be done.’ ”
The trial is expected to last four days before a judge alone.