TESTIMONY. “It threw me back into a violent past.” The film Signalements tells the story of Laurence's fight for her niece, raped 300 times

On the occasion of Children's Rights Day on November 20, France 2 will broadcast “Signalements”. A film inspired by the story of Karine and Laurence Brunet-Jambu: the child was mistreated by her parents, raped by one of their friends. Her aunt fought for years to save her. A film inspired by their book, both a cry of love for the martyred little girl and a cry of alarm for the protection of children.

On the cover of the book Signalements by Karine and Laurence Brunet-Jambu, we saw a little girl in the arms of Santa Claus. But instead of smiling, the child seemed terribly sad, as if absent. His eyes seemed to cry out for help.

Karine was born in Rennes in 1997. And immediately, her aunt, Laurence Brunet-Jambu, felt something strange. The child's mother did not behave like a mother, she did not hold her, refused to give her a bottle, nor did she change her diapers or her clothes. She was like “unable to hold her, unable to love her… ” she writes.

In the book, Laurence Brunet-Jambu describes one of the moments when everything changed. She insisted that she give her daughter her bottle. “I don’t want it, I can’t, take it off where I’m going to do the same as with the other one”she burst out one day. “What like the other? “the child's aunt immediately asks. “Yes, I killed my daughter, I killed my daughter with a knife, you understand, I didn’t want it!”

When she was two years old, at night, the neighbors would sometimes find Karine sleeping on the doormat in front of the apartment door. At five years old, she wandered alone, outside in her neighborhood until the middle of the night.

From the first days of his existence, a report was made to social services. In vain.

Things got worse for the child in 2002 when his parents decided to have a friend stay with them. The man has just been released from prison where he had served a sentence for sexual assault. Regularly, he gives money to Karine's mother or father so that they can go shopping and buy cigarettes. They leave the little girl and ask her to be quiet.

“At night, he would pick me up from my bed and take me to the dining room where he slept, on the living room sofa. My mother would sometimes come out of her room to go have a cigarette and she would see me naked next to him, says Karine in Signalements. I was so afraid… Of him, but especially of my biological parents: they hit me and insulted me, called me a liar. “

Read: TESTIMONY. “Reports”: facing institutions, Laurence’s fight to save her mistreated niece

Laurence Brunet-Jambu sees her niece's condition deteriorating. She alerted social services, the prosecutor, and made several reports of mistreatment and rape. All are classified without further action. She annoys. “The witch called again “she hears from child welfare. She is even being prosecuted for slanderous denunciation.

Finally, one day, things change. “It took 14 reports for Karine to be removed from her family where she was raped more than 300 times,” denounces Laurence Brunet-Jambu.

In July 2018, her rapist was sentenced to 30 years of criminal imprisonment by the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court. His parents were found guilty of witness tampering and were sentenced to 3 years in prison (for the father, including 30 months suspended) and 2 years suspended prison sentence for the mother.

To recount the ordeal of one, the fight of the other, Karine and her aunt are writing a book, “Signalements”.

“The book was released in 2019says Laurence Brunet-Jambu, and very quickly, the rights were sold for an adaptation.”

Catherine Ramberg, Clément Michel and Eric Metayer looked at the script and sent it to Laurence and Karine.“There were things where I was a little questionable, but they explained to me that the story was so sordid and unimaginable that it was going to be complicated to put everything into a film. “

It was me. It was Karine. She was my sister-in-law. With different faces, but the scenes were what we had experienced!

Laurence Brunet-Jambu followed all the preparations for the film and the casting. And then, one day, things came to fruition. “The filming started, Karine and I went there. And there, I received like a boomerang while watching the scenes I witnessed, because it projected me onto the violent past. But it fit exactly. It was me. It was Karine. She was my sister-in-law. With different faces, but the scenes were what we had experienced! “

“Of course, it's a TV movie, the story was adaptedshe continues, but in the film, there is nothing invented. It was important because I didn't want anyone to tarnish Karine's story or to tarnish my fight.”

Éric Métayer, the film's director, had already co-directed “Les Chatouilles”, the story of Odette, 8 years old, raped by a friend of her parents. “Reports” is performed by actors Cécile Bois, Odile Vuillemin and Bruno Solo and was selected for the 26th edition of the La Rochelle Fiction Festival which awarded the best actress award to Cécile Bois who plays Laurence Brunet-Jambu on screen.

“Eric Metayer understood the message, and that’s a gift,” rejoices Laurence Brunet-Jambu. During the preview, she was applauded and thanked for a long time.

“I don't enjoy the thanks for leading Karine's fight, I enjoy the thanks hoping that they will bring about change. I want this story to be useful, for things to move.”

“We are told, yes, but we have made plans, plans, well yes, but the plans are not of much use. It doesn't protect children any more.“

Laurence Brunet-Jambu sees this every day, “children are no more protected than 10 years ago. I had two calls this weekend from two children who are going through the same thing as Karine.”

“We don’t have a Secretary of State for Children she points out. It’s still a message. While we have a Secretary of State for Veterans Affairs. I'm not saying that we don't need a Secretary of State for Veterans, I'm just saying that there are 160,000 child victims of sexual violence per year in France.”

According to Unicef ​​figures, every 3 minutes, a child is the victim of incest, rape or sexual assault.

She is convinced of it, “child welfare is dead. There is nothing that works. And everyone knows it. The departments know this. The state knows it. The associations know this. And what do we do? “

Laurence Brunet-Jambu denounces a system created 60 years ago, “But it's dead, in fact. Children have changed. Families have changed. Society has changed. So we have to build protection that meets today's needs.”

She sometimes gets annoyed, thinking of the dozens of warning signs that didn't work. “In our society, we don't have the right to say that social workers are not good, we don't have the right! It's a message that we can't get across because we're calling a profession into question. But they are not good because they are not well trained. It's not the people, it's what they represent! “

“Society is collectively responsible for each child who experiences violence. We are collectively responsible.“

Before the Ille-et-Vilaine Assize Court, an attorney general stood up to apologize to Laurence Brunet-Jambu. The State was even condemned for denial of justice.

“This condemnation is to say that the witch, in fact, was right” she asserts. “I am no longer the witch, the bad one, the crazy one. “

“Karine, she deserves that the institutions apologize to her for not having protected her. She suffered martyrdom, because they did not do their job. And there are children, other children who suffer the same thing. And there are 5% of perpetrators who are convicted.”

Laurence Brunet-Jambu who is today president of the National Association of Alexis Danan Vigilance Committees and is committed to defending the rights of children. She hopes the film will raise awareness.

“And thenshe concludes, It's important that Karine can say, We can get through this and we can live with it. Am I okay? No, I'm not extremely well, but I'm okay. I'm moving forward. I'm building a life.”

“This is also the message we want to give. That's because things can go well. And with a final smile, she ends the conversation with a question in the form of an affirmation: Isn’t life beautiful?”