Coach denies assaulting six people

“I remember the horses more often than the people. It’s my passion. I have had many horses in my life. Every horse has emotions. I have more of a relationship with horses than with the world,” Francis Berger testified Thursday at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse.

The trial of the 57-year-old – a luminary in the equestrian world – has been going on for two weeks. Six complainants testified to having been sexually assaulted by Francis Berger. Five of them were riders trained by the accused at the South Shore Farm equestrian center in Mont-Saint-Hilaire. It would have occurred between 1993 and 2022.

A seventh complainant ultimately did not come to testify. Judge Ann-Mary Beauchemin therefore acquitted Francis Berger of this charge.

Before the start of the defense on Thursday, Judge Beauchemin ruled in favor of the Crown by allowing proof of similar facts against the accused. This allows the Crown to weave links between the different stories of the complainants. The judge thus ruled out the probability of “collusion” between the complainants.

According to the judge, numerous elements in the evidence support the proof of similar facts: the age and vulnerability of the complainants, their passion for horse riding, the ascendancy of the accused over them, the use of a form of psychological manipulation, the repetition of the alleged sexual gestures and a form of “grooming”.

During the trial, several plaintiffs described Francis Berger as a very tough coach.

“I never yell at anyone. No. This isn’t happening,” he vowed.

“That didn’t happen.”

At the start of the trial, Vanessa* recounted having been attacked by Francis Berger, at the age of 17, while they were in Florida for a competition. At the invitation of her trainer, she had gone to his motel room to get some “miracle” cream for an injury.

Francis Berger massaged her back without warning, then “pulled her toward him,” she described. She then felt behind his back that he had an erection. She left immediately, overcome by “intense unease”, she said.

“That didn’t happen. During the day, I am not at the hotel. We don’t have any interactions [avec] the students at the hotel, in their room,” Francis Berger testified Thursday.

He remembers giving her cream, but it wasn’t at the hotel, he said. He denied having welcomed Vanessa into his room in “boquettes” and having given her a shoulder massage.

According to the accused, Vanessa was one of the “best students”. However, she was a “very cold” and “difficult to approach” teenager.

“I’m not saying she wasn’t nice, but she was easy to get angry,” he testified, questioned by his lawyer, M^e Joel Girard.

He denies everything outright

Another complainant, Martine*, said she had a full sexual relationship with Francis Berger in a motel when she was 15 in the 1990s. The accused was her coach at the time.

“I didn’t do that. I didn’t have sex. That’s it,” Francis Berger said Thursday.

The accused assured that he had never received fellatio from Martine.

“Same thing, that didn’t happen,” he said.

« [Martine] was not in my main pupils. In my group, she was the one with whom I had the least contact,” commented Francis Berger.

Another complainant described receiving a long “hug” lasting 10 to 12 minutes in Francis Berger’s office. The latter then allegedly touched his buttocks.

“The hug never happened. […] No hugs, no touching of the buttocks, no contact,” testified Francis Berger.

He also denied having sent sexual text messages with this complainant.

“She wasn’t my favorite,” he blurted.

His testimony continues Friday. He has not yet reacted to the testimony of Kim, a teenager who said she was sexually assaulted for five years by her coach.

He will then be cross-examined by the Crown prosecutor, Ms.^e Marie-Claude Morin. The trial, which was to conclude this week, will continue in the coming weeks.