Mountie's prosecution unfair: defence lawyer
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 | 1:42 PM AT
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An RCMP officer on trial in Moncton on charges of sexually exploiting a teenaged girl is being unfairly prosecuted, his lawyer says.
Cpl. Al Boulianne is charged with two counts of sexual exploitation while in a position of trust. The complainant is now aged 20 — she was 15 when the alleged incidents occurred — but her name cannot be made public because of a publication ban.
Boulianne led the Codiac RCMP detachment's traffic division until he was suspended with pay when the allegations surfaced in 2003.
James Letcher, Boulianne's lawyer, told the Court of Queen's Bench in Moncton that the investigation into Boulianne was not fair.
"This is a narrow, one-[dimensional], tunnel-vision investigation" Letcher said in court.
Letcher's charge came on Tuesday, as he questioned Annie St. Jacques, a Crown prosecutor who was involved with the case.
She had corroborated testimony from another prosecutor about a conversation involving Boulianne. They both remembered that Boulianne had stormed out of their office after the lawyers laughed at his suggestion that younger women might be attracted to older men.
Letcher tried to ask St. Jacques whether her work had ever been called unprofessional.
The judge disallowed that line of questioning, prompting Letcher to tell the court he felt his client has been unfairly prosecuted.
Complainant testified Monday
On Monday, the complainant took the stand to discuss the allegations that surfaced when she was 15. She maintained her account that Boulianne had abused her during the time she was babysitting his children.
But under cross-examination, she revealed she only told her story to authorities after being pressured to do so by a boyfriend.
She also said she had socialized with the Boulianne family several times after the incidents, and that she had once even called him for spiritual guidance during a time when she was depressed.
She broke down in tears several times on the witness stand and said that at the time of the alleged incidents, she blamed herself for everything that had happened.
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