Accused in west Quebec incest trial testifies in own defence

Warning: The following account from the fifth day of testimony at the trial of a Val-des-Monts, Que., man facing incest and sexual assault charges contains descriptions of events some readers may find deeply disturbing.

A 79-year-old Val-des-Monts, Que., man on trial for incest and sexual assault admitted in a Gatineau court to abusing one of his daughters but denied the accusations of the other two.

Jacques Lesage, a father of eight, is facing three charges of incest, two charges of Indecent assault and one charge of sexual assault.

Lesage testified Friday about the incidents that took place over 30 years ago, beginning in 1971.

He described his own story as the victim of physical and sexual abuse when he was a child.

One of 15 children, he described an erratic home life, living first with a sister, then returning to the home of a violent father.

Dabbing his eyes and stumbling in his speech, he testified he was placed in a Catholic-run orphanage in Montreal where he lived through violence, sodomy and rape at the hands of the religious men charged with taking care of the boys.

Acknowledges abuse of daughter Lucie

The identities of victims in sexual assault cases are typically protected by a publication ban, but the women in this case asked for it to be lifted so that their father's name could be published.

Earlier this week his daughter Lucie Lesage testified she suffered 30 years of abuse and terror, and bore three of his children — the first child born when she was just 13 years old.

Jacques Lesage's paternity of two of the children was confirmed with DNA testing, and is among the agreed statement of facts in the case.

When his lawyer asked Lesage if he acknowledged the abuse, he said he did regret it, though he disputed some of the details of her testimony.

Of Lucie, he said, "I don't have anything against her; she's a good woman."

Under cross-examination, Lesage admitted he had sexually assaulted his daughter, but asserted that at the time he thought Lucie was not his child, and that he thought his wife had borne the child after an extramarital affair.

He also insisted that at the time he didn't believe her pregnancies were the result of his assaults.

'Never' with 2 other daughters, he says

Lesage denied the allegations his two other daughters brought forward, saying he had never been alone with them.

"Never, never, never," he responded in French when asked whether he had inappropriately touched his daughter Chantal Knippenberg, who is Lucie's half sister.

Knippenberg, sitting in the front row of the courtroom, began to cry and left for several minutes, accompanied by a family member.

He repeated the same response when asked about the allegations of his daughter Nathalie Lesage, who had testified he first molested her when she was five, then raped her the first time at eight years old.

Nathalie Lesage sat quietly weeping in the audience, her own daughter comforting her, as Jacques Lesage denied he'd ever even been alone with her while she lived in the family home.

Lawyers for the Crown and defence are expected to present closing arguments on Tuesday.

Below are links to some of the resources available in the region for people in need of help:

• Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa 613-234-2266.
• Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre 613-562-2333.
• CALAS Outaouais region: 819-771-1773.
• Sexual Assault Centres in Ontario.
• Centre for Treatment of Sexual abuse and Childhood Trauma 613-233-4929
• In Quebec: 1-888-933-9007  |  Montreal area: 514-933-9007