These are very old facts that the criminal court of Vannes (Morbihan) judged, this Thursday, June 27, 2024. But “very serious facts that time does not erase”, underlined the prosecutor, Sylvain Darchy. Because if this 61-year-old man appears for several sexual assaults on his nephews, “the qualification of attempted rape could have been retained”.
In 1993, the defendant, then aged 31, entered the room of his nephew, then aged 8. He joined her in bed, caressed her thighs, held her penis and placed his against her buttocks. Five years later, while he was still the companion of the children’s maternal aunt, he attacked his niece, this time, by kissing her genitals. The facts were only reported in June 2021.
“What I did haunts me”
On the stand, the uncle apologizes, talks about his “affection for this child”, recognizes all the facts that he is accused of and expresses regret by turning to the civil parties: “What I did haunts me, it has haunted me for a very long time. I’m sorry, sorry, sorry. » Then, to the president, he tries to give an explanation: « I was a kid in my head. »
At 33, and on the eve of becoming a mother, the niece is the only one to speak. She says how important this trial is to her, for what it “allows us to rebuild ourselves as adults and as former children”. And it also evokes the “irreversible consequences” of what she suffered, “in a silence which is a scourge in our society”, ses “years spent distrusting adults, doubting yourself, feeling ashamed, feeling angry.”
Three years in prison required
The prosecutor is asking for three years in prison, with a deferred committal warrant. “This is what I deserve,” reacts the defendant who finally gets three years of imprisonment, 18 months of which are suspended for two years, with an obligation to receive treatment and a ban on contacting his victims. He will have to pay each of them €4,000 in damages.
