Scammer
Banned
An Ottawa Police officer is speaking out — defending himself against allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman while she was in custody.
Const. Norman Redmond is facing a lawsuit alleging he abused and sexually assaulted the woman during an arrest in 2007.
In a statement of claim the defendant, Velvet Leclair, alleges police officers roughed her up in the police cells, made lewd comments, and groped her during her arrest.
Leclair was charged with obstructing a police officer in the Byward Market.
Leclair told her story to Radio-Canada a couple of weeks ago and said she's suing two officers — one of them Redmond — for allegedly sexually assaulting her in the cell block.
"There were hands touching me all over the place," said Leclair.
Redmond said the charges "upset me, upset my family, friends and other officers."
Redmond says the allegations are utterly false. He says he's surprised to be facing the lawsuit because he has already been cleared by an internal police investigation and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.
Now, after the release of the Stacy Bonds video, his name has been linked to the assault charges.
"My name was given forth to the media and was spread across Canada with allegations of sexual assault," Redmond said.
Like the Stacy Bonds' case, some of the police interaction with Leclair was also caught on cellblock surveillance video, although that video has not yet been released.
The investigator with the Ontario Civilian Police Commission says "the cellblock video ... corroborates what the officers have related." It also adds that "at no point does the video show your [Leclair's] legs being spread apart, or numerous hands all over your body."
Although Leclair's civil case is still before the courts Redmond worries the damage has already been done.
"There's the court of public opinion," said Redmond. "People tend to draw their own conclusions. They rush to judgement. And basically my point was, don't rush to judgement. Because in my case, the process worked."
The lawsuit against Redmond will go to court in the new year.
