A new stage has therefore been reached in the trial before judge and jury of Daniel Laframboise, targeted by six counts against three alleged victims, including charges of sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm.
The questioning of Ms. Rapattoni by the Crown, which began Monday morning, lasted just under a day. She will be cross-examined by the defense shortly.
There are two counts against Laframboise relating to each of the three alleged victims, including Johanie Bellemare St-Georges, who herself testified. This 38-year-old woman has requested the lifting of the publication ban which protected his identity.
Sandra Rapattoni and Daniel Laframboise were married for more than 25 years, until 2018, the year of their arrest.
Initially targeted by seven counts, Ms Rapattoni saw these dropped in October 2019. Her lawyer pleaded at the time that she was first and foremost a victim of Daniel Laframboise and not his accomplice.
She does not exist
Sandra Rapattoni did not only address her relationship and those of her ex-husband with Johanie Bellemare St-Georges, their former resident. She also read to the jurors several emails allegedly sent to her by a woman named Marie-Claude Bégin, described as a shaman
.
Ms Rapattoni believes that this woman, whom she never met and corresponded with by email for more than ten years, never really existed.
This is what she said, in tears, at the end of her testimony, seeming to regret having believed in her existence for so long. She does not exist
she finally let go in tears.
It should be recalled that the Crown asserted, during the presentation of its case theory on the first day of the trial, that Daniel Laframboise had manipulated the plaintiffs in different ways, including “the sending of thousands of emails from false identities”.
Mrs Rapattoni, why are you asking [par courriel] permission for Marie-Claude Bégin to be able to tell Daniel Laframboise that his cousin will visit you?
asked one of the Crown prosecutors, Me Andrée-Anne Gagnon.
I asked Marie-Claude Bégin practically everything, because I was always afraid of making a mistake or not getting the right deal.
replied the witness, who could exchange 15 to 30 emails a day with the person who administered the account of Marie-Claude Bégin.
Shamanism and energy
Still by email, the person behind Marie-Claude Bégin’s account would have let Sandra Rapattoni predict that her husband would become the master
of Johanie Bellemare St-Georges in the context of a relationship of discipline, domination, submission and sadomasochism (BDSM).
She would have finally accepted, despite her reluctance. The email said it was important to be open for the well-being of my son, Daniel, my sister, everyone. It was a question of energy
she mentioned before alluding further to the spiritual work
and at the assignment
devolved to Ms. Bellemare St-Georges as part of her submission
.
Sandra Rapattoni maintained that her ex-husband was the first to tell her about Marie-Claude Bégin. She began to receive emails signed by this name in 2005. She received the last emails from Marie-Claude Bégin in July 2018, the day before her arrest and that of Daniel Laframboise.
Sandra Rapattoni claims to have been impressed at first by the displayed skills of the alleged Marie-Claude Bégin in the fields of shamanism and spirituality.