Woman who accused Justin Trudeau of groping her at music festival speaks out

The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, the woman says

(Getty)

A woman who accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of groping her almost two decades ago has broken her silence – saying she stands by her account but considers the matter closed.

In a statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, former newspaper reporter Rose Knight, said she was speaking out reluctantly “in response to mounting media pressure” that she was the person who wrote about being groped at a music festival 18 years ago. Mr Trudeau has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is confident he did “not act inappropriately”.

“The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr Trudeau did apologise the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further,” said Ms Knight.

“I have had no subsequent contact with Mr Trudeau, before or after he became Prime Minister.”

The woman, who is no longer a journalist, said did did not intend to speak further about the alleged incident. “The debate, if it continues, will continue without my involvement.”

The controversy followed a charity fundraiser that Mr Trudeau, then aged 28, attended in Creston, British Columbia, in 2000. He attended the event to support avalanche safety.

An unsigned editorial that appeared at the time in the Creston Valley Advance newspaper said Mr Trudeau had apologised for inappropriate “handling” of the female reporter. The editorial did not provide any details, but said Mr Trudeau “blatantly disrespected” the journalist.

The editorial and its allegations resurfaced after a blogger posted an image of the article on Twitter in June. The prime minister initially said did not recall any “negative interactions” at the event, though he said he remembered the day in Creston well. He later issued a detailed response, according to the BBC.

“Over the past weeks, since this news resurfaced, I’ve been reflecting, we’ve all been reflecting, on past behaviours,” he said.

“And as I’ve said, I’m confident I didn’t act inappropriately, but I think the essence of this is people can experience interactions differently and part of the lesson we need to learn in this moment of collective awakening….people in many cases, women, experience interactions in professional contexts and other contexts differently than men.”

Mr Trudeau said if he apologised at the time it was because he must have sensed the woman in question felt differently about their interaction.

“Again, I’ve been reflecting on the actual interaction and if I apologised later, then it would be because I sensed that she was not entirely comfortable with the interaction that we had,” Mr Trudeau said.

“Like I said, I’ve been working very hard to try and piece it together, and even when the original editorial came out at the time I was fairly confident, I was very confident, that I hadn’t acted in a way that I felt was in any way inappropriate.”