They stand side by side, almost in the same line. Slender and proud silhouettes of professional dancers. In the past, choreographer Bruno Vandelli, 62, and his ex-husband Jessy Bourgeois, 31, shared dance classes as well as their intimate life. A painful divorce put an end to this pas de deux. But here are the ex-spouses reunited again, despite themselves, in the dock of the Grasse criminal court.
Both are being prosecuted for corruption of a minor. Their alleged victim: Arthur, a former student of their summer internships, who accuses them of having sent him pornographic photos and videos between October 2016 and March 2017, when he was barely 14-15 years old. At the hearing, he is the big absentee. But the young man’s mother, who also filed a civil suit, is there to testify.
“Arthur is still very affected by this story, from which he had serious psychological after-effects and which led him to addictions, she tells us. Today, he is a brilliant student preparing for a Master 2, but he did not have the strength to face them.”
The young man had started dancing at the age of 4, and had been following Vandelli courses since he was eight. In 2016, an artistic melee with Jessy Bourgeois became more ambiguous when the last one allegedly whispered to him: “The current is intense between us.” A conversation then begins between the student and his “two teachers”, until it gets out of hand with the exchange of explicit photos and videos.
“I didn’t dare say no to them…”
“I didn’t dare say no to them. I told them I consented, even though I didn’t at all “, the complainant will tell the investigators. They find a single video on the cell phone of the alleged victim, lasting 15 seconds. But it is particularly explicit. No arabesques, but an intimate scene between the two spouses, with fellatio and masturbation.
When questioned, the accused expressed deep regret.
“At first, it was just a discussion. This video was a moment of weakness, of excitement for our couple, defends himself Bruno Vandelli. Above all, I was interested in Arthur’s dancing skills. When I found out his real age, I stopped all contact.” As for Jessy Bourgeois, he explains his participation thus, with tears in his eyes: “looking back, I would say…to excite my husband.”
He also confesses to having fallen under the spell, even under the influence of Bruno Vandelli from the age of 14, but their relationship did not begin until he was 18.
“The feeling of defending the big bad wolf”
To the great dismay of the defense, the case necessarily echoes other accusations of sexual assault brought against Bruno Vandelli by Yanis Marshall, another star choreographer. Especially since the latter’s mother is in the audience, and her lawyer Kaltoum Gachi also represents Arthur.
“But there is no conspiracy of teenagers in an organized gang against Bruno Vandellishe emphasizes to the interests of the civil party in the company of Me Marion Sicard. Arthur has lost faith in adults, but he retains faith in justice.”
For the prosecutor Alain Guimbard, the sending of this porn video constitutes corruption of a minor “and of a certain flouted morality”. He requires a one-year suspended prison sentence against Bruno Vandelli, 8 months suspended sentence against Jessy Bourgeois. Penalties accompanied by a ban on carrying out any activity in contact with minors for five years.
In defense of Jessy Bourgeois, Me Emilie Lopez points out “deficiencies in the procedure and a video with a dating problem”. And requests release for his client while specifying: “He too looked at Vandelli as the Holy Grail and suffered greatly during his years of marriage.”
Something to make Me Joseph Cohen Sabban jump: “I have the impression, my poor Bruno, of defending the big bad wolf!”
With Me Sylvia Stalteri, who evokes an erotic game between husbands, Bruno Vandelli’s Parisian lawyer denounces a poorly put together case, with “nothing other than a 15-second video, of which we do not know when or by whom it was sent”to also plead for release.
Judgment on June 28.
