The former high school basketball coach on trial at the Montreal courthouse where he is charged with sexually exploiting one of the girls he coached in the St-Laurent borough has taken the stand in his defence.
Daniel Lacasse, 45, of Laval, began testifying Tuesday morning after the complainant completed six days on the witness stand before Quebec Court Judge Alexandre Dalmau.
He began his testimony with a background explaining how he became the head of the basketball program at École secondaire St-Laurent until 2022 when he and two other coaches were arrested following an investigation by the Montreal police.
Lacasse, a very tall man, kept his left hand in a pants pocket and swayed his right hand back and forth while he began testifying.
The complainant, who is now an adult, has alleged, among other things, that she and Lacasse began having sex when she was 16 and he was her head coach.
Lacasse ran the basketball program at what was formerly École secondaire Émile-Legault all the years she was there. The woman said he invited her to attend the high school after she performed well during a tournament held at the school while she was in primary school. She said he was her head coach when she was in Secondary 5 and that he began the abuse by caressing her thigh one evening when she was 16 and they were watching television together on his couch. She alleges they were having intercourse on a regular basis sometime after he first touched her. She said she had been sleeping on Lacasse’s couch for a while, to escape problems with her family at home, before he began touching her.
She also alleges Lacasse “dated” other girls in the basketball program at the school before her and that when they began having sex she figured it was “part of the culture” of the basketball program at the school.
She also alleged last week that, at one point in their relationship, Lacasse made it clear he was supporting her financially because he expected sex from her.
The trial began on Oct. 15, and on Tuesday defence lawyer Eddy Ménard completed four days of cross-examining the complainant. It appears the defence attorney is trying to establish she was older than she claims when she began having sex with Lacasse.
On Tuesday, she repeated her allegation that she and Lacasse had intercourse inside the school’s garage shortly after she attended her prom when she was in Secondary 5. She said it happened late during an evening and Lacasse had to unlock a door to let her in, possibly the day after her prom.
The woman also repeated that Lacasse asked her to blow into a breathalyzer that had been installed in his car so it would start if he had been drinking.
She alleged that Lacasse and other coaches at the high school would drink at the school after tournaments and, on other occasions, she blew into the breathalyzer after going to restaurants with Lacasse and other coaches.
“There were times when he would want me to start the car,” the woman said. “It was more times than I could count on my two hands. I remember breathing into the breathalyzer many times.”
Two other coaches at the same school — Charles Xavier Boislard, 47, of Brossard, and Robert Luu, 34, of Laval — were charged at the same time as Lacasse in 2022. They each face multiple charges, including sexual assault. Boislard’s trial is set to begin in November and Luu’s is scheduled to start in January.