Former actress Geneviève Sabourin, known for harassing American actor Alec Baldwin, has just been found guilty of obstructing the work of a special constable.
• Read also: Geneviève Sabourin still caught up in her past
“Tomorrow will mark 10 years since I was arrested in New York. And 10 years later, I am still in front of the justice, “she launched this morning on her arrival in the courtroom of the Longueuil courthouse.
She refers to her 2012 arrest in the United States for stalking popular actor Alec Baldwin.
She was tried last February for obstructing the work of a special constable.
The incidents that earned her this charge occurred in July 2019 when she had to be taken out of a courtroom at the Longueuil courthouse.
She was present in a civil case opposing her to the Public Curatorship, concerning her mother suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Wishing to have her rights recognized, she kept interrupting judge Florence Lucas, who ended up asking her to leave. The situation had degenerated, to the point where the magistrate then had to have her expelled by special constables.
During the intervention, she would then have threatened one of them to “screech [son] pencil in the face,” testified agent Ian-Alexis Beaulieu.
At his trial, Mr.me Sabourin said he had been the victim of discrimination in connection with the “Alec Baldwin affair”. According to her, the judge who ordered her expulsion from the room was in cahoots with the special constables, to silence her in the courtroom.
On several occasions, she demanded that no special constable be in her presence in the courtroom. She said she was suffering from post-traumatic shock since she served six months in prison in the United States for stalking Alec Baldwin. Since that time, she has felt “intimidated” by police officers dressed in uniform.
Despite everything, she denied having resisted the constables. If she fought when she was expelled, it’s because the officer hurt her by grabbing her.
She also played the recording of the audio captured in the courtroom during the intervention.
She even compared her injuries to the murder of George Floyd, killed by a police officer in the United States.
“I can be heard screaming [sur l’enregistrement] “You hurt me Beaulieu, you hurt me”. Why not stop, knowing that there could be potential injuries? There is a police officer sentenced to life in prison for a man who said: ‘I can’t breathe’”, she said.
She says she then had bruises on one arm and a tear in one shoulder.
Constable Beaulieu had for his part claimed on several occasions to have used the “minimum” force.
In his judgment, Judge Pierre Bélisle said he believed that the marks on the accused’s arm were caused by the constable. But according to him, M.me Sabourin “is responsible for his misfortune. »
“His negative and forbidding attitude meant that Officer Beaulieu had to use the force necessary to expel him from the courtroom following an order given by the Superior Court judge”, a- he concluded.
As for the shoulder injury, Judge Bélisle gave little credibility to the “incomplete” medical document she presented in evidence, in particular because it dated nearly two years after the event.
As during her trial, Geneviève Sabourin repeatedly interrupted the judge during today’s hearing. In his judgment, the magistrate also deplored the attitude of the accused, who made many flights on various subjects not relevant to her case.
“In the courtroom, I had to interrupt him several times to explain to him that his remarks on how to care for patients in CHSLDs were not relevant to the case in question, any more than his references. to the Baldwin, George Floyd or Joyce Echaquan affair. It was useless, she did not listen, continued her speech and called for the proceedings to be stopped. Despite the warnings, she did not differentiate between cross-examination, comments and pleading,” the judge described.
The latter once again had to ask the accused yesterday not to interrupt him. Nevertheless, M.me Sabourin was agitated and protested at the judge’s conclusions.
The Crown prosecutor in the case, Me Frédérique Malouin, suggested a suspended sentence, which would have created a criminal record for the accused.
“So you’re going to give me a locker?” she cried. I’m going to have problems the rest of my life with my shoulder. »
But the judge instead sentenced her to a conditional discharge, coupled with 12 months probation. If she meets all of her conditions, she will avoid a criminal record.
“I take into account that you provided care for your mother 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for three years. Not everyone is able to do that. I also take into account that this is an isolated event which is not likely to be repeated, ”launched the judge, to the attention of the accused.
The latter nevertheless deplored the decision when she left the courtroom.
“I am still living the consequences of the poverty in which I have been plunged since the Baldwin affair,” she said.