It was Mary Sicari’s turn to testify on Tuesday in the civil trial of Gilbert Rozon, accused of sexual assault and rape in nine separate cases. Mme Sicaro recounted in great detail the harassment and unwanted touching she allegedly suffered for more than 15 years while she was employed by Juste pour Rire.
Posted at 5:32 p.m.
Mme Sicari, who was 22 when she was hired by Juste pour Rire in 1988, worked in accounting and billing for a division called Les Films Rozon. Later, she worked in ticketing and production. According to her testimony, she referred to Richard Bleau, François Rozon, Judy Suissa or Mark Goldman, but not to Gilbert Rozon.
However, about a month and a half after starting her job at JPR, she received a call from Gilbert Rozon at her home.
“I was with my boyfriend Richard, it was a Friday evening, and he offered to come pick me up in a limousine, go to a restaurant, catch a film,” she said in English. He wanted us to go out together. My boyfriend asked me who it was, I told him: he’s my boss, I don’t know what he wants! I was uncomfortable, but I refused. »
Mary Sicari, who claims a sum of 1.25 million, subsequently recounted how Gilbert Rozon solicited her by telephone, on a weekly basis, with similar proposals.
“Every time, I refused,” she said. He was like a skipping record. There was even a time when I hung up the line on him. At the office, a colleague one day told me: don’t worry, it’s Gilbert, ignore him, you’re the flavor of the month, that’s all, it will pass. But it continued. »
The following year, in 1989, Mme Sicari meets Lucie Rozon, Gilbert’s sister, who joins the group. “We hit it off right away,” she explained. To the point where she confides in her about her brother’s repeated calls.
“When I told him what was happening,” continued M.me Sicari, Lucie rolled her eyes. She told me: I’m going to talk to him. But it continued. After a while, I went back to her to tell her that he wouldn’t stop… She took the phone in front of me and called him. She told him: “Let her go, Gilbert! She doesn’t want to know.” »
But according to the testimony of Mary Sicari, who now suffers from anxiety and fibromyalgia, that’s when the unwanted touching began.
“He touched my buttocks with his hands, and then he said: Oh! Excuse me. Or he would brush up against me as he passed behind me, and apologize. One day when the whole team was at a restaurant, he sat next to me, and I felt his arm on my chest. Again he exclaimed: Oh! Excuse me. At the table, everyone noticed, half of the employees had a knowing half-smile…”
“These touchings were frequent, according to the testimony of Ms.me Sicari. “Wherever I was, he would appear unexpectedly, like a snake. » One day when she was alone, at lunchtime, in the photocopier room – she was printing reports – she felt someone behind her. It was Gilbert Rozon.
“I never heard it coming. He rubbed himself on me, then left, laughing out loud. Another time, when I worked in the ticketing department, I was on the phone with a customer, he came up to me and stuck his tongue in my mouth. He kissed me so hard that I bled. And he left laughing, like Mary Poppins! I said to myself: he’s a psychopath. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Gilbert Rozon, upon his arrival at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday.
Mme Sicari recalled another episode in which she was chatting with comedian Normand D’Amour at the end of a show. She felt that her right hand, which was hanging down, was touching a penis. She turned around, it was Gilbert Rozon who had put his hand on her penis. “I said the F-word… pulling my hand away. But I was not able to say more, she told judge Chantal Tremblay, who is presiding over the trial. He left laughing. »
In the courtroom on Tuesday, actor Michel Courtemanche was present to support her, as were the other plaintiffs who had already testified.
Mary Sicari, who worked at JPR from 1988 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2004, explained to the court why she did not report Mr. Rozon. “His family was my family,” she said with emotion. François, Lucie, Martine… I didn’t want to hurt them, and I loved my work. But the truth is also that I was afraid. I warned Lucie and Gilbert continued. I was afraid he would try to rape me…”
As for the reasons which motivated him to return to work at JPR in 2001, Mrme Sicari explained that Mr. Rozon had pleaded guilty in 1998 to a sexual assault against a dealer at Manoir Rouville Campbell. “I was working with another team, and then I thought he had calmed down after his guilty plea, but then it started again…”
Mary Sicari filed a complaint with the police in 2017, after discussions with Sophie Moreau, the daughter of the late comedian Jean-Guy Moreau, who also accuses Mr. Rozon of sexual assault and who will testify this Wednesday.
Tense cross-examination
In its cross-examination, the defense painted a completely different portrait of Mary Sicari, submitting that she used vulgar language around her colleagues and Mr. Rozon, and that she engaged in sexually suggestive behavior.
Me Laurent Debrun, who led the cross-examination, even suggested that Mme Sicari had one day “flashed her breasts”, which Mme Sicari vehemently denied. “I have never, ever, ever done that in my life!” » she protested before talking about the VIP evenings where Mr. Rozon “did coke and invited prostitutes”.
Me Debrun also noted contradictions between elements of his testimony and his statement to the police in 2017.
Mme Sicari, who showed several signs of impatience, said she had no memory of her testimony. She explained to the court that she had been attacked in a restaurant in Saint-Sauveur by an unknown person shortly before her testimony. Which would have revived the memory of the alleged attacks by Mr. Rozon.
According to the defense theory, Mary Sicari’s allegations stem from mental health problems she suffered from and conflicts she had with members of the Rozon family, including Lucie, with whom she was friends for several years.
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