Stéphane Plaza arrives at the Paris criminal court on January 9, 2025, with his lawyers Maître Carlo Alberto Brusa and Maître Hélène Plumet (AFP / Dimitar DILKOFF)
Tried in Paris for violence against two former companions, the famous real estate agent Stéphane Plaza refuted the accusations at the bar, citing in particular “an unfortunate incident”: “I do not control my strength”.
The television presenter, dressed in a midnight blue suit and a white T-shirt, is appearing in particular for “habitual physical and/or psychological violence by a partner” between 2018 and 2022 against a former partner, Amandine. He faces ten years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros.
During the investigation, Amandine recounted having suffered four episodes of violence and humiliation.
In the spring of 2022, she describes a scene where Mr. Plaza twisted the fingers of one hand. An x-ray reveals two dislocations and a bone tear. She also assures that he “strangled” her with his forearm.
After this episode, Mr. Plaza sent him several messages in a tone that was sometimes defensive, sometimes sorry. “You push me to the limit, and I lose control, that’s the reality. The most violent man in the world. I kiss you tenderly,” he wrote to her in particular.
“With this text, one might think that you admit to having committed violence,” the president pointed out to him during the hearing.
“It was taken out of context,” assures Mr. Plaza. “I take her hands and spread them, but I can’t control my strength because I’m dyspraxic and clumsy (…) and I don’t see that she’s in pain,” he insists, denying the having strangled.
“There is a force that should not have been there, it’s an unfortunate incident,” he insists. “I have injured a number of people, even on film sets. I myself could have accidentally injured myself.”
– “Everything is falling apart” –
Among the mistreatment denounced, Amandine described a stay in Morocco, where Stéphane Plaza, her companion and employer, allegedly humiliated her with a Moroccan personality by telling her: “I brought you a woman, I’m not kidding, take it, it’s your gift.”
A “joke” sweeps Mr. Plaza on Thursday. “With hindsight and mentalities that have changed, maybe I wouldn’t do it again.” “I didn’t put her down, I took her everywhere!”, he continued. “For me, woman is the most beautiful thing.”
“He oscillated: he took care of me, but that could change in 48 hours and everything fell apart,” testified Amandine, who continues to live in “fear”.
– Why not stop this relationship? It lasted five years, asked the president.
– I was in love, I worked for him, we lived in his apartment. And there were better times. So I had a hard time getting out of all that.
Mr. Plaza’s lawyers filed intimate videos of Amandine, which she sent to Mr. Plaza after their altercations. Proof, according to her defense, that she was not subjected to violence. Mr. Plaza’s defense is “revenge porn and it is illegal”, said Amandine’s lawyer, Me Benjamin Chouai.
The other ex, Paola, who accuses Mr. Plaza of psychological violence, will be heard after Amandine.
The two women were granted total incapacity for work (ITT) of more than eight days for this recurring violence.
“Talking about four, five facts in several years of relationships… I would have divorced my wife a long time ago if I had to be sued every time I get a little angry”, had criticized earlier in in the morning Mr. Plaza’s lawyer, Carlo Alberto Brusa.
He pleaded two nullities before the debates, denouncing an “incriminatory” investigation. A regrettable “waste of time” for the prosecutor. “It is not dignified, even if it is a sadly banal case, it is not for the civil parties present.”
The affair began in September 2023, with the publication by Mediapart of the testimonies of three former partners. The prosecution then opened an investigation.
For his part, Mr. Plaza filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office for harassment and cyberharassment, against these women who accuse him of violence. This complaint was dismissed on January 7 for “unknown author”, according to the public prosecutor. But the defense filed another complaint to obtain referral to an investigating judge.
Initially a real estate agent, Stéphane Plaza became a star of the small screen when M6 propelled him in 2006 to the head of the shows “Research apartment or house” and “Maison à vente” (2007), followed by “Chasseurs d’appart” (2015). At this stage, M6 has repeatedly ruled out ending their collaboration.
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