MONTREAL – It was all a game to Patrick Deschatelets, but it proved to be a dangerous one that killed the woman he loved.
Testifying in his own defence at the Longueuil courthouse on Wednesday, Deschatelets, 45, a Montreal firefighter, talked about how he and a woman took part in a sado-masochistic role-playing weekend in February 2008, when something went horribly wrong and she died.
The 39-year-old victim’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
The charges
Deschatelets was originally charged with murder in the case, but that has since been reduced to two options for Quebec Superior Court Justice Claude Provost – manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death – or an acquittal.
Deschatelets testified he and the woman he had been dating for months agreed to spend a weekend role-playing, with her as a submissive to his dominant role.
He said the woman had gone over a list of things she wanted to try with him.
The testimony
After picking her up at a train station, he brought her to his house and, Deschatelets said, he and the woman tried a variety of things while she was chained to the ceiling of his basement.
He said he eventually became disappointed in “the game” but that she expressed a desire to resume the following day
“She said ‘tomorrow we’ll take care of your pleasures,’” Deschatelets told the court.
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Most of Deschatelets’s testimony was straightforward, although he paused a few times before bringing up delicate subjects.
He became emotional when he referred to her as “the woman I loved.”
The following day, he said, the woman spent much of her time writing a journal, on a computer, about her experiences.
He said he told her to take a shower as the day grew longer, and he began preparing them a pasta dinner.
He said she then expressed disappointment in their weekend and asked to return to his basement so he could attach a metal collar she was wearing to the chain there.
Deschatelets said the woman then expected to be spanked, and at that point and his testimony ended for the day.
The court has already heard that Deschatelets went outside to buy pasta at one point and that when he returned, he found the woman unconscious in the restraint.
He called for help and when police arrived they found Deschatelets trying to revive the woman in his living room.
She died 16 hours later in a hospital.
Testimony from another witness
Before Deschatelets took the stand, the defence called a former sexual partner of his.
The woman also took part in role playing with him. The woman, whose identity is also protected by a publication ban, said she and Deschatelets role-played “once or twice a month” but that she preferred to be in the dominant role.
The woman testified she sometimes left Deschatelets in the restraint while she left on an errand.
She described it as part of the role playing.
“He would be happy to see me (when she returned from an errand). It would accomplish the mission of making him happy to see me back.”
“I was not concerned that anything tragic would happen.”
“He never forced me to do something I didn’t want to,” the witness said.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday.
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