A young victim called to order by a judge burst into tears and began to bleed from the nose after the hearing. When Danika*, the alleged victim of a pimp when she was 16, apologized to the judge, the magistrate firmly defended her behavior.
“Unlike… I wasn’t cavalier with you. I was not a rider. I wasn’t harsh. I wasn’t harsh. And I didn’t answer you sharply. Everyone knows what we’re talking about. But this did not happen,” judge Joëlle Roy told the victim Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
An article from La Presse published the day before reported that the judge had “cavalously reproached” the victim for answering “anything” for 15 minutes during cross-examination. “You answer to answer,” the judge told him. An intervention which ended the hearing.
This case took place at the trial of Mohamed Louchahi, aka “Mehdi”, a 35-year-old Montrealer accused of being the pimp of 16-year-old Danika in April 2019. He is also accused of producing and distributing child pornography and human trafficking of another 18-year-old woman.
Wednesday afternoon, in cross-examination, the victim returned to the episode of Monday afternoon which led the judge to intervene.
“I was a little stressed to be answered. To the point that my nose started bleeding. I was over all my emotions. My nose was bleeding with tears, because I had just offended you. I apologize for that,” Danika testified.
Judge Roy then denied having been “offended” by the victim. “I have a role to play that requires me to put the witnesses back where they belong. I’m very comfortable that I did it very correctly. […] I welcome people into my courtroom. I have always done that, and I always hope to do it,” assured the judge.
Thursday morning, the judge reiterated in the courtroom that she had been neither “cavalier” nor “curt” with the witness. Defense lawyer Sharon Sandiford, however, preferred that the judge not speak again about this case to avoid a reason for appeal for the Crown. In any case, the case “goes to the Court of Appeal,” said the judge.
Shortly after, the victim broke down while the defense dragged on in cross-examination on a conversation between the victim and the accused in 2019. In a panic attack, the young woman left the courthouse without warning. Friday morning, the judge questioned the parties to understand the events.
“I would never have forced the witness to testify. Never. Never. I am very human. I am very sensitive. I am someone who loves people. I am very sensitive to everything,” Judge Roy insisted.
For long minutes, the judge then questioned the victim about the very precise circumstances of her departure, in particular about the role of each investigator.
Essentially, Mohamed Louchahi claims to have been nothing more than a simple escort driver in 2018-2019. While studying aircraft maintenance, he came across an ad for an escort driver online. He was quickly hired.
Before that, he had struck up a friendship with 18-year-old Amélie* in surprising circumstances. While Louchahi was putting $20 worth of gas in his car, Amélie asked him for a “lift.” It was the first time they spoke. They became friends immediately. “We never flirted,” he swears.
When Louchahi announces to Amélie that he is hired as an escort driver, she is “very excited”. The young woman dreams of being hired. He ends up giving her his boss’s number. “It was the best day of [Amélie’s] life,” he describes.
The accused says he became Amélie’s driver. She was often “very happy” to have made money. However, the young woman had a “strong character”, he said, before being called to order by the judge. Amélie “spoke loudly,” he said.
At the trial, Amélie said she was afraid to denounce the accused since he had already violently hit the steering wheel of her vehicle. Mohamed Louchahi denied this episode. “I’m really not a violent person,” he swore.
He stopped being a driver in 2019, because he got a good job at Bombardier.
The trial continues Friday afternoon.
