As the Pelicot trial enters its final stretch, the Var criminal court has been looking since Wednesday into a new sexual crime pushing the limits of the abject.
In the box, Julien B. (1)38, accused of incestuous rape of his adopted daughter then aged 13 to 15, between 2019 and 2021 in Salernes, Grimaud, Cogolin and Cavalaire.
A few meters in front of him, appearing free, Youcef B., almost 70 years old. He too is accused of raping young Lara (first name has been changed) on at least four occasions. The aggravating circumstance of gang rape as well as the offense of corruption of a minor were also retained by the investigating chamber.
Proposed to strangers on dating sites
Julien B. in fact organized via “electronic communications networks” – the Wannonce site – meetings involving sexual relations, in which he actively participated. If the investigations only made it possible to identify Youcef B., the major in charge of the investigation estimates that between “three or four men” additional may have abused the teenager. “One for sure” he says, relying on the numerous images captured by Julien B. during these events.
On the civil parties' bench, firmly holding her mother's hand, Lara avoids the gaze of her executioner. At his feet, Neige, an 8-year-old Golden Retriever, is there as part of canine mediation to bring him some comfort. By force too. Because the court, chaired by Anne-Valérie Lablanche, is forced to plunge into sordidness before rendering justice. To speak crudely. To look the unthinkable straight in the eye.
The 1is August 2021 in Cavalaire, around 3 a.m., Lara is found wandering in the streets of Cavalaire. The 15-year-old girl had just run away from her grandmother's home after receiving an insulting call from her adoptive father. To the tourist who received her first statements, she confided that she was afraid of being raped again. To the police, she revealed that she had been raped for two years at the rate of three to four reports per week with many insults and threats.
Alongside these incestuous rapes, Julien B. “proposed” his daughter to other men. She thus detailed a gang rape that had occurred three days previously in Grimaud where, masked, she had suffered attacks for almost an hour from a stranger and her father. She also indicated that she had been forced to abort in December 2020, at the age of 14, without knowing whether the father of the fetus was Julien B. or another man.
“Reduced to a sexual object”
The use of Julien B.'s cell phone confirmed the young girl's words. And even beyond. “We can see humiliating photos of Lara's private life, explains the director of investigation. But also a video where he forces her to insert a vegetable into her vagina. She is crying, scared. There is no doubt about his lack of consent.”
The gendarme, although experienced in the worst baseness of the human soul, manages with difficulty to restrain his emotion at the mention of the film of the gang rape of Lara by her father and Youcef B., identified by geolocation of the images. “She is reduced to a simple sexual object by her two rapists who have no feeling for her. Lara is then in great distress and shows her disgust.” After an hour of horror, Youcef B. ends up urinating in his face…
“This gentleman indicates that on the dating site ad, Julien and Lara presented themselves as a couple of 22 and 26 years old. That for him, it was a game… But it is undeniable, when Lara takes off her mask , that he is not facing a woman, not even a young adult…”
Today, Lara is 18 years old and has a boyfriend. If she does not wish to discuss further the facts of which she was a victim, she specifies “dissociating the paternal bond and what [son] father [lui] did”. “I miss my dad, she admits. But I have nothing to say to him now.” Back on his bench, Neige places her paw on his knee.
Julien B. and Youcef B., defended by Mes Charles Evrard and Christophe Mairet, face 20 years of criminal imprisonment. The verdict will be delivered Friday afternoon.
1. In order to preserve the anonymity of the victim, the identity of the accused is not revealed.
