After painstaking proceedings that stretched over nearly six years, a former leader of the Union Nationale was found guilty of sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

The judge himself recognized it, Paul Poulin, who was leader of the former political party of Maurice Duplessis in 1986 and 87, is a “very clever” man.

Formerly a multi-millionaire, the 74-year-old had to file for bankruptcy and was not represented by a lawyer, for lack of money or a lawyer willing to represent him.

Since his arrest in October 2016, the man has therefore defended himself, multiplying the procedures over the years. He was first arrested following the denunciation of a little girl, who said she had been sexually assaulted by Poulin when she was 6 or 7 years old.

During a first assault, the accused had incited the child to listen to a pornography film before undressing her and committing acts of a sexual nature.

Another episode occurred in a movie theater during a movie in which the victim remembers that there were “just naked guys”.

By indicating that he was excited, Paul Poulin had once again touched the private parts of the child, who cannot be identified in order to protect his identity.

The girl, now a teenager, who testified to events that occurred in 2012 or 2013, had recounted a third event during which she had performed oral sex on her attacker.

148 files in his computer

When Poulin was arrested for sexual assault, the police found 148 child pornography files on Poulin's computer.

To defend himself from possessing images of naked children, the accused claimed that “computer hackers” had placed the prohibited files on his computer.

A “totally implausible” argument, ruled judge Sébastien Proulx, who found him guilty on all counts.

However, this was the second time that Poulin was found guilty of a sexual crime since during this long trial, a second victim filed a complaint against him for a crime committed when she was 16 years old.

Despite these two guilty verdicts, Poulin, who is free until the determination of his sentence, repeated that he was not guilty when he left the hearing.

He will return to court at the beginning of December to find out the fate that justice will reserve for him.