Attalens (FR): teenager touched and filmed without her knowledge by her friends

Published28. April 2024, 07:14

An evening with friends ended in court, when one of the participants learned what had happened to her while she was dozing.

The events occurred on the night of December 29 to 30, 2021, between midnight and one a.m. Several young people from the Attalens region (FR) were gathered for an evening with friends, when a teenager of around fifteen dozed off. A young man of almost 20 years old took advantage of this drowsiness to touch his private parts, over his clothes.

While he was touching her like this, another young man, aged 18, was filming the scene. However, the victim knew nothing of what she had suffered for months. It was only at the end of August that she became aware of the facts and she filed a complaint in mid-September.

The perpetrator of the touching has just been found guilty of inconvenience caused by being confronted with a sexual act by the Friborg public prosecutor. He was fined 500 francs. As for the “cameraman”, he was convicted of violating private property using a camera. He received a 12-day suspended fine, as well as a fine of 200 francs.

The two men, however, came out relatively well, since the authorities gave up prosecuting them for sexual acts with children, a charge significantly more serious than those charged. “Indeed, according to the case law of the Federal Court, the alleged act must have an indisputable sexual nature to be qualified as an act of a sexual nature. This is the case for example with an insistent caress of the penis, even over clothes. In case, the required intensity was not reached given that it was a matter of furtive touching,” explains the Public Prosecutor’s Office

Victim or witness to sexual assault?