Former Just for Laughs employee testifies about alleged 1987 assault by Gilbert Rozon

MONTREAL — A second woman testified Tuesday that Gilbert Rozon sexually assaulted her in the 1980s at the Quebec impresario’s high-profile civil trial.

Guylaine Courcelles took the stand and described an alleged assault by the Just for Laughs founder at his home in the fall of 1987. Courcelles, a former office employee in Rozon’s entertainment company, said the assault took place when she was 22 years old and Rozon was in his 30s.

She testified that she was supposed to meet Rozon at a bar about the possibility of a long-term job at Just for Laughs after working for him in short stints as her first real job.

The court heard Rozon ended up bringing Courcelles back to his upscale home in the Montreal suburb of Outremont under the guise of having to light a wood stove to keep the house warm. His wife was away, and Courcelles said he promised to drive her home. But she said that after a night of conversation, drinks and food, Rozon convinced her to stay over in a guest room, saying he was in no condition to drive.

She testified there was nothing untoward about the evening until Rozon suddenly appeared in the doorway of the guest room wearing a towel and allegedly got into bed with her.

“I said ‘What are you doing Gilbert?” Courcelles told the court. “I told him ‘Gilbert, if you don’t have any respect for me, at least have some for your wife.'”

Courcelles said she repeatedly refused Rozon’s advances and eventually turned away from him, crossing her arms over her breasts. She told the court Rozon allegedly masturbated on her back and remained in the bed with her.

She said that afterwards she felt anger and shame and wondered how she could have avoided the situation. Rozon, she added, acted as though nothing had happened and asked her why she was so angry and cold with him, to which Courcelles said flatly he’d almost raped her.

Courcelles continued working with Just for Laughs until 1989. Her life was marked by self-confidence issues, relationship problems, anger, shame, poverty and depression, she said. She floated from job to job and described herself as “broken.”

Courcelles is seeking $1.9 million in damages as part of a nearly $14-million civil lawsuit brought against Rozon by nine women who sued Rozon individually. Quebec Superior Court Justice Chantal Tremblay is hearing the civil lawsuits together in a single trial.

Rozon, 70, denies committing any assaults, and his legal team said during the opening of the trial on Monday that the women had communicated with each other and “contaminated” each other’s stories.

On Tuesday, Rozon’s lawyer Mélanie Morin cross-examined the first plaintiff to take the stand, Lyne Charlebois, asking about certain gaps in her memory of an alleged 1982 assault.

They also questioned Charlebois about her role in Les Courageuses, a group of about 20 women who came together during the #MeToo movement and tried to sue Rozon in 2017 in a class action. They were ultimately prevented from doing so by the Court of Appeal. Charlebois is seeking $1.7 million from Rozon.

Charlebois and Courcelles were among 14 complainants who went to police. All but one — Annick Charette — were told their cases would not be taken to trial. In 2020, a Quebec court judge found Rozon not guilty on charges of rape and indecent assault connected to events alleged to have taken place in 1980 involving Charette.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press