An RCMP officer in northern New Brunswick has been acquitted of sexual assault after a three-year legal battle. Constable Vincent Pageau was found not guilty of the single charge in Campbellton Provincial Court. The alleged incident took place on May 16 and 17, 2022, in Tide Head, near Campbellton, when Pageau was off duty.
During the trial that started in September, the accuser claimed that Pageau had touched her thigh in a hot tub at his residence, where she was a guest. She mentioned leaving the hot tub and later losing consciousness in the bathroom, recalling instances of Pageau touching her breasts and lying beside her.
Both Pageau and the accuser admitted to consuming alcohol on the night of the alleged events. However, Pageau denied the accusations, stating he did not sleep next to her or touch her breasts. He mentioned that he had seen the accuser naked but clarified that she had voluntarily removed her swimsuit without any prompting from him.
In his ruling, Judge Martin Goguen expressed doubts about the accuser’s recollection, attributing it to potential memory fragmentation due to alcohol consumption. He found Pageau’s testimony to be credible, providing what he deemed as “very plausible explanations.”
Pageau’s legal representative, Johanne Thériault Paulin, noted that the judge appeared to give more weight to her client’s testimony. The charge against Pageau was brought in January 2024 by the Serious Incident Response Team based in Nova Scotia, responsible for investigating serious allegations against police officers in the Maritimes.