the essential
At the Foix judicial court, the court and the civil party tried to understand the actions of Richard*, sentenced this Friday at the assizes for acts of rape of his nephew. Questions left unanswered.
Even if he confessed to the facts from his first hearing by the gendarmes in 2018, Richard* says he was taken aback when he learned of his nephews' filing of a complaint, thinking that they had moved on despite a chaotic journey including The origin could lie in his actions.
“It fell on me like a tsunami. In 1987, I never thought I would one day end up in court. The media didn't talk about it,” explained Richard, who nevertheless said he was aware of the ban on these sexual assault.
“I had urges at that time. It’s not easy to explain. […] It's all about my parents' upbringing. […] and to my childhood”, tirelessly explained the accused, for lack of anything better after six years of care, forced by the procedure with psychologists.
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“I am a monster”
For two days, the defense focused on depicting a youth under the authority of a severe and violent father, where the children obeyed without ever having a say, even if the accused claims never to have suffered of sexual violence, then an adolescence in a heavy closed door where sexuality was silenced, alongside a castrating mother. “He couldn’t even witness the calving of a cow,” recalled Maître Pibouleau, defense lawyer.
An explanation which was not enough for the civil party, who tried to understand the incomprehensible. But on the stand, Richard had the silences of those who do not confide, who do not dwell, not finishing his sentences, content to rephrase the questions in response. “I'm ashamed of what I did, I'm a monster. I'll think about it until I die.”
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An act of revenge?
“Monsters do not exist, sir,” replied the civil party’s lawyer, trying to jostle the accused, sometimes lost in the flow of questions, to extract from him a piece of explanation of his actions. .
“Richard chooses the easy way. He bases everything on the weight of the earth and religion,” pleaded Maître Rosenau, after having submitted other hypotheses to the accused that same morning. Was this action revenge after the presence of the young brothers on his farm was imposed on him? Before the court, Richard had in fact admitted to not having wanted them in Saverdun. “I didn't want to take them in. I had to take them to school. I have fields quite far away, I had to go back on purpose. It was my mother who wanted to welcome them,” explained the farmer , who refuted the desire for revenge.
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