A specialist doctor accused of raping a young woman with an accomplice rejected these “false accusations” on Tuesday. If he admits to having prepared the MDMA, the complainant took it freely, he insists. And even if she had just “gently” rejected his advances, Stephan Probst assures that she then agreed to a three-way trip.
“Madame is receptive, she is participatory, she takes pleasure. She moved in concert with me. There is no doubt about his consent in the sexual relationship,” Stephan Probst defended Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse.
The 46-year-old Montrealer and his partner Wendy Devera, 30, are accused of sexual assault with the participation of another person (gang rape). A specialist in nuclear medicine, Stephan Probst is medical chief at the Jewish General Hospital and professor at McGill University.
Victoria* testified last week that she met Wendy Devera on an app in 2020 to have a sexual “experience” with another woman. At Ms. Devera’s request, she joined her at Stephan Probst’s penthouse. Victoria had clearly established that she had no interest in a man.
According to her account, Victoria was probably drugged without her knowledge, since MDMA (ecstasy) was found in her blood. She never agreed to consume it, she assures. After drinking a drink prepared by Stephan Probst, Victoria says she lost control of her limbs and felt “dizzy”.
Victoria claims to have firmly rejected Stephan Probst’s advances in the spa. Then, in bed, she said she was penetrated by the accused without her consent, while Wendy Devera held her back. Victoria claims to have expressed her disagreement on several occasions. When she managed to escape, Stephan Probst caught up with her and raped her on the wardrobe, according to her account.
In a short testimony recited quickly and very detailed, the specialist doctor firmly denied having raped and drugged Victoria. Stephan Probst was a regular at threesome sex at the time. He says he had around forty. “But this false accusation was made. It was impossible to trust people afterwards,” he lamented.
Stephan Probst sometimes invited friends from his “sex friend” group. Other times, it was his friend Wendy Devera who met young women on apps and invited them to his house. In Victoria’s case, Stephan Probst agrees that she wasn’t initially interested in a threesome.
Why did you invite him in this case?, asked the Crown prosecutor Me Jérôme Laflamme. “We’ve never uninvited anyone who didn’t want a threesome. The goal of the evening is not always a threesome. That’s not the plan. It’s a possibility,” the accused explained.
During the evening, Stephan Probst offered MDMA to Wendy Devera and Victoria, who agreed to take it. He was the one who bought the drug, “crystalline powdered MDMA,” carefully calibrated it and diluted it in water, he said. The low dose of 30 mg was intended to give a “buzz” without getting “high”.
He adds that he has not used it, since MDMA is “bad for erections”.
In the spa, Stephan Probst tries to kiss Victoria, but she turns her head “kindly” to express her refusal. “I understood that it was a clear refusal. It was a refusal with a smile. Madame is neither shocked nor annoyed. A very kind refusal,” he describes.
The trio then heads, naked, into bed. When Victoria performs cunnilingus on Wendy Devera, Stephan Probst begins to touch the complainant’s body and penis. As Victoria is “receptive,” according to him, he begins to penetrate her. “She was moaning to my touches, there’s no doubt she consented,” he says.
“Neither Wendy nor I held, restrained or controlled Madame’s movements,” insists Stephan Probst. He does not know why the complainant found herself with redness on her wrists. “I can assure you 100% that it has nothing to do with me,” he maintains.
Stephan Probst is insistent: he did not have another sexual encounter with Victoria in front of the wardrobe. “Completely false. The sex machinery was off, there were no other attacks as Madam claims,” he says.
In his eyes, Victoria had nevertheless had a “nice evening”. So it was the “shock of his life” when the police arrested him a year later.
Stephan Probst is sorry to have never found a young woman present at the start of the evening, but who left before the alleged attacks. “I would love for her to be there,” he says.
His cross-examination continues Tuesday before Judge Suzanne Costom.
