Roger-Luc Chayer
There, we will have to start talking to each other in the eyes, ladies and gentlemen, of the good society of Quebec, while we have been aware for a while that the actor, music lover and monument of Quebec culture, Edgar Fruitier, is charged with indecent assault by a person, and the facts are 44 years old (1974)!
Since the Weinstein and Rozon cases, victims of pseudo gestures that sometimes date back to the Victorian era have appeared everywhere, and this is not a coincidence. Recently, the Government amended the law to allow charges for long-standing crimes, and allows mostly pseudo-victims to go out of old cases to receive an IVAC pension (Compensation for Crime Victims). ). No need for a police report, a simple request made by anyone, invoking a gesture of a sexual nature, can automatically, on presentation of a basic file with medical report, receive money or care psychological, whether the accusations are true or not!
What are the exact facts in this « case »? A 59-year-old man accuses Edgard Fruitier, 44 years after the so-called facts, of having sexually touched him. The prosecution mentions that this is an indecent assault. This term no longer exists in the current criminal code. Mr. Fruitier is therefore accused under a law that no longer exists and must defend himself with means that are certainly no longer accessible. Mr. Fruitier is now 88 years old, which raises many reactions of public anger at the decision of a Crown Attorney to accuse,
notwithstanding the delays, and while in all his life, only one pseudo-victim has manifested himself. The good news in all this is that Edgar Fruitier has pleaded not guilty and that his accuser will have to prove beyond doubt his claims. The old crime of indecent assault did not already mean that a rape had occurred, it is a minor charge. Why submit an 88-year-old man to only one count from the last century? Why keep quiet for 44 years? The last important fact to remember is that the presumption of innocence of an accused person is the basis of our criminal justice system and anyone who pleads not guilty and is not convicted must benefit. This is his ultimate right. I therefore recommend to the Quebec public not to seek the trial of Mr. Fruitier, cases of acquittal have been very numerous in recent months in similar cases and, let us not forget either, an acquittal never repairs the damage caused by unsubstantiated or unsupported accusations.
Edgar Fruitier, (born May 8, 1930 in Montreal), is a comedian, a music lover, a radio host and a Quebec television host. He is known to the younger generation as the Quebec voice of Mr. Burns in the popular cartoon The Simpsons. He also played Loup-Garou, in The Pirate Maboule, Quebec children’s show, popular at the end of the 1950s until the end of the 1960s. He played in TV shows the Belles Histoires des pays d’en Haut and the Box of surprises. In the theater, he was cast by Molière, Michel Tremblay and Shakespeare. (Wikipedia)