A 39-year-old former teacher was sentenced Friday by the Haute-Savoie Assize Court to five years' imprisonment, four of which were suspended, for rape, assault and sexual assault on one of his students between 2020 and 2021 in Annecy.
The sentence, the firm part of which will be adjustable, was accompanied by socio-judicial monitoring for 8 years, deprivation of eligibility rights for ten years, and a definitive ban on carrying out a professional or voluntary activity in contact with minors. The thirty-year-old will also be registered in the File of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses.
Prosecuted for “rape and sexual assault on a minor aged 15 by an adult with an age difference of at least five years”, according to the new law of April 21, 2021 aimed at protecting minors from sexual crimes and offenses, the The accused appeared free at his trial, having already served two months of pre-trial detention, during a hearing behind closed doors.
Safe sex
The story began in Annecy in 2019 with a kiss from the teacher to his student, on the occasion of his thirteenth birthday. During the confinement of spring 2020, the relationship took a new turn, through numerous emails exchanged, in which the teenager and the teacher sent each other “I love you”.
Little by little, physical contact then became closer and more numerous, during their reunions in the forest, in a classroom or in the teacher's car. Until the two had safe sex in the summer of 2021, at the professor's home. The latter was also prosecuted for “sexual abuse of a minor aged 15 by an adult abusing the authority of his position” concerning the acts committed between September 1, 2020 and April 20, 2021.
The accused admitted the facts when he was in police custody in September 2021 following a complaint filed by the young girl's parents. A graduate of classics, a practicing Catholic, a widower, remarried and father of a family, he had also been consuming pornography for around twenty years, recognizing an addiction to sex.
Far from considering herself a victim, the young girl for her part claimed this relationship and said she consented throughout the investigation. According to her, the professor, with whom she said she was in love, had taken care each time to ensure her consent.
