Alleged victims want to drop complaints against Brazeau, says lawyer
Posted Jun 17, 2014 11:47:08 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
GATINEAU, Que. – The lawyer for suspended Sen. Patrick Brazeau says the alleged victims in an assault and threats case against his client want to withdraw their complaints.
Defence lawyer Gerard Larocque told the court on Tuesday that one of the two people has actually written the Crown about dropping the complaint, which was filed following an incident in April.
Brazeau was charged with assault, possession of cocaine, uttering threats and breaching bail conditions following an altercation involving a man and a woman at a home in Gatineau.
The embattled senator, formerly a member of the Conservative caucus, has pleaded not guilty.
He was not in court as the case was put off until Sept. 5.
The Crown, which has the final say on whether the complaints would ultimately be dropped, would not comment on that possibility.
Prosecutor Stephany Robitaille said the final decision will come from her office and it doesn’t mean the charges would be dropped.
“If a victim wants to withdraw the allegations … it is still the Crown attorney who will decide if there is a withdrawal or not,” Robitaille said.
Brazeau, 39, is continuing to get treatment and remains under a curfew and other conditions imposed when he was granted bail.
Robitaille said Brazeau has completed a stint at a rehabilitation facility in the Quebec municipality of Saint-Andre-d’Argenteuil, which is located along the Ottawa River just south of the town of Lachute.
He is now continuing his treatment as an outpatient at a centre in Gatineau.
The former Conservative is still facing charges of assault and sexual assault in relation to an incident from February 2013, with a trial date expected to be set in September.
Those charges led to his ouster from the Conservative caucus.
Brazeau also faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in connection with his Senate expense claims.
In 2013, the Senate ordered Brazeau to pay back almost $50,000 over disputed expense claims. He refused and the Senate garnisheed his salary until last November, when he was suspended without pay.
Brazeau was named to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009.
