accused of raping an octogenarian, a former night watchman acquitted

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He will have passed three years in prison. And this could have continued for so long if the requisitions of the attorney general, who requested eight in total, had been heard. But the criminal court departmental justice of Seine-et-Marne, which sat in Melun from Wednesday October 9 to Friday October 11, 2024, ruled otherwise. The old watchman night of a independent residence for the elderly of Montereau-Fault-Yonne, accused of rape of a vulnerable personultimately benefited from acquittal.

A case sewn with white threads

A real acquittal which will be worth reparation for the one who was prosecuted for an affair partly sewn with white threads. Even if everything seemed to accuse this elderly man of 27 answho himself admitted having had a sexual relationshipconsented and without consequence, with an 84-year-old residentin the establishment Beautiful leaf.

Because at the heart of this trial, of great emotional intensity, was the almost taboo question of sexuality of older peoplea mysterious universe of libidos sometimes already extinguished or on the contrary still very active, with their share of fantasies and often dissatisfaction, even resentful frustrations.

One night sex

The central scene took place on an unspecified evening in August 2021. The affair was only revealed three months later by the complainant. No witnesses, therefore, no trace and ultimately few tangible after-effects.

Two versions totally antagonistic ones thus clashed: one emanating from a person weakened by age, the other, contradictory, formulated by a young man already guilty of an almost unnatural relationship.

The accused, from the outset, confessed to having committed the irreparable by accepting this one night sex. “This gesture ruined my life, my reputation and my own respect,” he stressed, confessing his disorder “close to disgust,” his “embarrassment” and his “shame.” With the pitiful and only motivation: “To do a favor for a lady who asked for it”. Then his astonishment at hearing himself accused of rape, by the very person who had demanded “ a hug and tenderness.”

“Always ready to help”

The night guard was appreciated by everyone, perceived as “gentle”, “kind”, and “always ready to provide service to residents », without proven gerontophilic tendency.

Highlights of this trial, the final hearing of the accused with a court president, who, perfectly in his role, tried to make him break down so that he finally confessed to the rape. In vain!

For the civil party, M^e Clarisse Scialom spoke about the facets of her client’s personality: “Needing affection does not mean asking for sex. The victim must not become the accused. She’s not responsible for anything, she didn’t ask for anything.”

In the end, late on Friday evening, the truth finally came for the accused, who had becomea free manthanks to an acquittal with the benefit of the doubt.

Jean-François CALTOT

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