A judge has found a well-known local musician facing a sex-related charge not guilty.
Police charged Joseph Gerald “Gerry” Deveau with sexual assault in relation to a 1996 incident involving a 17-year-old in Margaree.
Deveau, an 86-year-old from Belle Cote known as “the Spoon Man”, stood trial in Port Hawkesbury Provincial Court.
In Monday’s verdict, the judge said he found the complainant’s testimony credible, but based on the available evidence, he had reasonable doubt regarding the vehicle where the sexual assault allegedly took place.
Deveau was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest and 12 months of probation for a sexual assault conviction in 2018; he was also placed on the Sex Offender Registry for a 10-year period.
He was 76 at the time of that 2010 incident; the complainant was 10 years old.
