Quebec Court of Appeal overturns sexual assault verdict for Montreal skating coach

Richard Gauthier, right, a former Canadian pairs skating coach, who was found guilty of sexual assault, gross indecency, arrives for sentencing at the Montreal courthouse with his lawyer Giuseppe Battista in Montreal, Monday, Nov. 6, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Quebec’s Court of Appeal overturned a guilty verdict against a renowned skating coach accused of sexual assault and gross indecency, saying the burden of proof was not met.

Richard Gauthier was found guilty of having assaulted a teenage male skater in the 1980s and sentenced to 12 months in jail in 2023. He was acquitted of a third count of indecent assault against the victim, whose identity is covered by a publication ban.

Gauthier, who was 23 at the time of the alleged events, was accused of having bathed naked with the complainant, taken showers with him and spooned naked with him in a bed at his residence.

Gauthier’s lawyers argued the verdict should be overturned in accordance with rules prohibiting multiple convictions for the same incident. He also sought appeal against the 12-month sentence.

Court of Appeal Judge Patrick Healy overturned both charges and the sentence on Friday.

In his judgment, Healy said there were many omissions and contradictions in the complainant’s testimony, which did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Court documents say the trial took place almost 40 years after the alleged assaults and eight years after the complainant first pressed charges.

The complainant would have undergone therapy that helped him remember the events.

In 2023, Quebec court Judge Josée Bélanger had ruled that the evidence was sufficient to convince her Gauthier was guilty despite the complainant not being able to remember the addresses, locations, dates, frequency and chronology of events.

She chalked up contradictory statements and inconsistencies to the fact that the events had taken place 38 years before the hearing when he was a minor. Bélanger also rejected parts of Gauthier’s testimony, saying he was not credible.

Healy said the fact that Bélanger partially accepted their contradictory accounts “implies that none of these accounts is conclusive and that each raises significant doubts regarding the case as a whole.”

He added that “the conclusion that there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt requires reasons explaining precisely how the evidence was sufficient to support specific findings regarding sexual touching.”

Healy says that while there is evidence to support a finding of guilt, it fails to meet the standard.

Gauthier spent more than three decades training world-class pairs skaters. He was inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame as a coach in 2015, though he was expelled from Skate Canada following his conviction.