N.B. doctor who touched woman without her consent gets 1 year of probation

A New Brunswick doctor who admitted to touching a woman's buttocks, pelvis and breasts without her consent while out socializing in 2022 has been given a conditional discharge and sentenced to a year of supervised probation.

Rémi Poitras, 31, of Edmundston, who specializes in family medicine and emergency medicine and now lives in Quebec, pleaded guilty in October to common assault.

He was originally charged with sexual assault.

The victim, who was a fourth-year student at the New Brunswick medical training centre in Moncton at the time, said she continues to be "deeply affected" and is disappointed Poitras pleaded guilty to the reduced charge.

"By reporting the assault, I hoped to obtain some justice — not only for myself, but for the person that I could have been if all of this had not occurred, for the dreams that were delayed and broken, the missed opportunities, the difficult relationships and the destroyed confidence," she told the Moncton courtroom in French during a sentencing hearing Wednesday.

But Rosalie Genest, now 28 and a resident physician in pediatrics in Quebec City, is still glad she came forward, and requested the court-imposed publication ban on her identity be lifted.

"Throughout my healing process, I realized that it's not up to me to be ashamed of that," she explained in an interview with Radio-Canada about her decision to make the request. Provincial court Judge Luc Labonté agreed at the sentencing hearing to lift the ban.

Judge accepts joint recommendation

According to an agreed statement of facts, Genest was at the Tide & Boar bar on Main Street in Moncton on Oct. 29, 2022, when Poitras grabbed her buttocks. He then placed his hands on her hips and pelvis.

Genest left the bar and got into a car driven by Poitras's female roommate to go home. Poitras joined them in the vehicle and Genest pretended to be asleep. That's when Poitras touched her breasts.

On Wednesday, the judge accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from the Crown and defence.

One act when you're drunk … should not define you for the rest of your life.- Judge Luc Labonté

"You're an important member of society that people look up to, so it's important that your actions always are appropriate," Labonté told Poitras.

"Having said that, one act when you're drunk … should not define you for the rest of your life either. And I understand that," he said, adding he believes Poitras is "truly remorseful."

The conditional discharge means the offence will be removed from Poitras's criminal record in a year, unless he violates his probation.

The conditions include not having any contact with the victim and following any treatment recommended by his probation officer.

"I don't think the public at large will be shocked that you receive a discharge given the fact situation here," the judge said

Victim still haunted by flashbacks

Earlier in the hearing, Genest told the court via video conference how the offence has affected her mental health and her career.

She considered her attacker to be someone she could trust — a colleague of her then-fiancé, a teacher at the medical training centre where she was studying for exams and even her doctor during an emergency consultation in 2021, she said.

Following the incident, Genest said, she no longer felt safe. She was "terrorized by the idea of being alone," she said reading from a victim impact statement, which an interpreter then relayed to the court in English. 

Two years later, flashbacks still haunt her several times a day, she said.

"These vivid remembrances still cause me the same panic, the same distress and the same helplessness that I felt during the crime."

Stress and fear forced her to study only part time, she said. She couldn't work and even began to question her dream of becoming a doctor. Her monthly debts remind her just how much this assault has cost her, she said.

Her life was once confident and "full of promise and possibilities." Today, she feels "broken and unrecognizable."

Poitras describes 'mutual dance'

Poitras's defence lawyer Carolyne Albert urged the judge to reject the victim's entire statement. Labonté opted instead to not take into consideration certain information that was not part of the agreed statement of facts.

Meanwhile, Poitras told the court his version of the events that night, starting with what happened at the bar.

"While dancing together, I touched her hips with my hands. And she touched me in return with her hands," he said. "We had both [been drinking] alcohol. There was no sexual intention.

"There was never a moment where Ms. Genest used verbal language nor body language to indicate that she didn't want to dance together."

During the car ride, Genest rested her head on his chest and he placed his arm around her, he said, adding she interacted with the two other people in the vehicle for the entire trip.

This contradicts the agreed statement of facts, when Poitras admitted to grabbing the victim's buttocks at the Tide & Boar and touching her breasts in the vehicle.

"To say I was surprised to hear that I was being accused of an assault after this night would be an understatement. … Facing a life-altering charge for what I felt like a mutual dance scared me," he said.

"I feel deeply sorry that Ms. Genest feels I touched her without her consent. This would never be my intention."

Poitras and his lawyer both declined to comment at the end of the hearing.  

College imposes conditions on medical licence

When he pleaded guilty on Oct. 9, Poitras had no conditions on his medical licence. Restrictions have since been added, according to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick's website.

He is prohibited from engaging with any medical students or postgraduate trainees. In addition, all interactions with female patients are to be conducted in the presence of a chaperone, it says.

Poitras's New Brunswick licence expires at the end of the month, according to the website.

The Collège des médecins du Québec's website had no information about restrictions or disciplinary action.