Paul Rene Desmarais may have told a Calgary court he “lost everything” as a result of sexual assault allegations involving a teenage girl, but the former Calgary Transit bus driver has had his name cleared.
Desmarais was facing charges of sexual assault, sexual interference with a child under 16, and sexual contact with a youth by a person in authority.
On Friday afternoon, Justice Richard Neufeld found Desmarais not guilty on all counts.
The allegations came after a near-decade-old series of encounters between Desmarais and a teenaged girl who rode on his bus. Both Desmarais and the complainant had what Justice Neufeld called “diametrically opposed” versions of events.
“I do not consider the accused’s version of events or the complainant’s to be fundamentally implausible,” Justice Neufeld said.
“The crown has not met the burden of proof imposed upon it.”
READ MORE: Final arguments heard in trial for former Calgary Transit driver charged with sexual assault
The identity of the complainant, now 24, along with other details from the trial which could potentially identify her are protected under a publication ban.
The woman told the court her interactions with Desmarais started out as friendly chit-chat but evolved into an increasingly more sexual conversation and inappropriate touching while he drove the bus.
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Justice Neufeld said it was “improbable, if not implausible,” for Desmarais to be able to drive and evade detection from other passengers if he was sexually touching the complainant.
The woman had also testified her interactions with Desmarais ultimately culminated in a sexual encounter in the garage of his family home. Neufeld said he had reasonable doubt as to whether any sexual contact took place.
As to the charge of sexual contact by a person in authority, Justice Neufeld did not consider Desmarais to be meet the threshold of a person in authority, but rather he was simply the operator of the transit buses she chose to ride.
READ MORE: Former Calgary bus driver finishes testimony at trial: ‘I’ve lost everything’
On direct examination by his attorney Joan Blumer, Desmarais told the court it was, in fact, the girl who made increasingly sexual advances toward him. He said at times he’d dismiss it as her being fantastical, and other times he’d admonish her for being inappropriate. In one circumstance, Desmarais said the girl told him she had fantasized about performing fellatio on him while he was driving the bus.
Desmarais testified that in September 2009, the girl boarded his bus and proceeded to tell him that because she was now of age, she would get a hotel room for the two of them.
“I said ‘sorry, I’m a married man. I’m not interested,’” Desmarais told the court. He said she told him, “I can make you do this.”
Under cross-examination, the complainant disagreed with Blumer’s assertion that the hotel room conversation ever happened.
“You said, ‘this is going to happen, this will happen. I get what I want, you will find out (what happens) when I don’t get what I want,’” Blumer posed to the woman.
“I’m not a vindictive person,” said the woman. “That’s not how I treat people or talk to them.”
READ MORE: Trial begins for former Calgary bus driver charged with sexual assault of teen
As Crown prosecutor Pam McCluskey concluded her cross-examination of Desmarais, she asked if he saw himself as a victim.
“Yes, I do, because I’ve lost everything; I’ve lost family, I’ve lost friends, I’ve lost everything,” he said.
As Justice Neufeld left the courtroom following his decision, Desmarais made the sign of the cross as members of his family sobbed in the gallery.
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