Despite a thirty-year career without blemish or blemish, the 59-year-old head of the establishment saw his life explode in mid-October 2022, thanks to an anonymous and murderous letter. On Monday, the courts cleared him of all suspicion. A deliverance tinged with anger and bitterness.
Le Figaro Nice
It was a real way of the cross. For almost a year and a half, Stéphane H., the former principal of the private Catholic high school Sasserno, in Nice, was the subject of heavy suspicion. There were first alleged sexual assaults as well as sexual and moral harassment denounced in an anonymous letter sent to the bishopric and the authorities in October 2022. The 1is following March, the director was first laid off as a precautionary measure by the school’s board of directors, while the various investigations were carried out.
A month later, the Diocesan Directorate of Catholic Education (DDEC) announced the dismissal of the principal in a press release, publicly fueling suspicions against him. “serious and established facts” were then mentioned – even if it meant encroaching on the presumption of innocence which the accused nevertheless enjoyed. At Figarohis lawyer said to himself “stunned by the public communication thus made around this affair, in defiance of all principles. Master Philippe Soussi had qualified “of a nameless indignity” the method of the diocese, which consisted, in its words, of “to throw into the public arena the honor of a man who was unable to defend himself and disputes the facts with which he is accused.”
At the end of September 2023, following the investigation carried out by the Alpes-Maritimes Departmental Security, the head of the establishment was finally the subject of a “simple” summons before the police court to answer for a fine for “sexist contempt”. Nothing during the investigations could give credence to the other, much more serious facts. “All the students who had supposedly signed the letter were interviewed. It didn’t do anything.”confided a source close to the matter.
A victory tinged with bitterness and anger
Highly awaited by the defense, the hearing before the Nice police court was held on Monday. The latter confirmed once and for all the innocence of the 59-year-old former director. The courts acquitted him of charges of sexist contempt. “I am obviously very happy for him, after a year and a half of fighting”comments Me Soussi. But to qualify: “It is a victory tinged with bitterness and anger. Because in the meantime, my client was fired, lynched in public. He saw his honor violated. I will not let go of those responsible for this cabal and will prosecute them all for slanderous denunciation.” Because, for the lawyer, there is no doubt, the former principal was the victim of a plot aimed at bypassing him. “When we know that a supervisory visit had taken place a year before this story and that my client had then been qualified as an “ideal” head of establishment. How could he have become the devil a few months later?squeaks Me Soussi.
Relieved to have been cleared by the courts, Stéphane H. remains no less bruised. “He is very bad. He had to retrain professionally, as did his wife who also worked in Sasserno. He is also very grateful for the hundreds of supports from teachers and students who accumulated during the entire procedure.his council said.
