Gilbert Gréaux, 79, was found guilty of three rapes and fourteen sexual assaults by the Hérault Assize Court, for acts committed between 2013 and 2015 in Saint-Jean-de-Fos. This former businessman, who claimed to be a healer to the victims, was not convinced of his innocence.
Smiles and tears of relief. Thursday evening, before the Hérault Assize Court, the seventeen victims of Gilbert Gréaux, the former real estate millionaire converted into a hypnotizing winemaker, magnetizer and rapist, did not hide their satisfaction at having been listened to and above all believed.
“If you recognize what they suffered as victims, your decision will be fair” insisted Sandrine Bonnici, Sophie Cousin and Syvlie Bar, their lawyers.
At the end of four days of intense debate, the Hérault Assize Court sentenced the septuagenarian to 11 years of imprisonment for three rapes and fourteen sexual assaults on these women to whom he offered massages on the sidelines of their stay in his guest rooms, at the Valloubière estate, in Saint-Jean-de-Fos, claiming to be a healer.
“Our problem is not whether you recharge the chakras”
“I ask for forgiveness” stammered the accused, white-haired, tired from illness, in a half-confession of facts that he never stopped contesting, taking refuge behind his amnesia. For him, he just wanted to do good by harmonizing the chakras of his guests who denounced digital penetration and other hands placed on the pubis and breasts.
“Our problem is not whether you know how to recharge the chakras, but whether in this context, you have committed acts that amount to rape or sexual assault” President Didier Guissart reminded him during a final interrogation.
“I am very surprised by what is happening, I never intend to do harm, I could never imagine that I would see people suffering like this” replied Gilbert Gréaux, ingenuous where everyone praised his superior intelligence. His explanation according to which the complainants believed that he was touching them while he was practicing contactless but gave off strong heat from his hands, convinced no one.
“His hands, I don’t know if they are gold, but they are wandering”
“His hands I don’t know if they are gold, but they are wandering” squeaked General Counsel Corinne Béal. “We're talking about rape, penetration, the victims felt his hands and it's not heat.”
The public minister endeavored to dismantle “the stratagem” of the man who made his fortune in real estate on the Côte d'Azur, before spending 20 years in the West Indies, notably in Saint-Barth where this helicopter pilot became a painter, before rushing back to mainland France.
-It was in 2004 and the Guadeloupe Court of Appeal had just confirmed his conviction already for sexual assault on five women, during magnetism sessions in which he had specialized as an autodidact.
“He is powerless”
“It was a mistake to have practiced alone” he admitted. Gréaux then bought the Valloubière estate, made wine, built guest rooms and all the victims recounted the same scenario: “watered meals where you say you can drink as much as you want because it’s organic wine, that doesn’t hurt” denounced the general advocate.
Then collective hypnosis and personalized massages, targeting women only: “Gentlemen are resistant to researching chakras” flew to his aid Josette, faithful wife for over 60 years and unfailing support of the accused.
She even reminded the court that a previous colon cancer deprived her husband of “every desire is powerless.”
But, precisely, for the prosecution, he wanted to satisfy “his sexual urges”. The episode of his flight to Florida in 2015, while he was indicted, slowed down the case until his extradition at the end of 2023: “The victims were prisoners of their pain while he was in the sun” scathed Corinne Béal, demanding 13 years of imprisonment.
“He is in denial, but recognizes the pain of the victims”
The defense was unable to decently plead for the acquittal of the septuagenarian, seeking instead, in finesse, the roots of the evil. Especially this son who killed himself on the motorcycle offered, a trauma from which Gréaux never recovered.
“He has sunk into old age, but he has found the words: even if he cannot verbalize the facts, if he is in denial after having fled all the trials suffered in his life, he recognizes the pain civil parties, it’s more powerful” said Mr. Abratkiewicz.
“He is not a cold and organized predator, we must qualify the sentences and recall his emotional immaturity, who was a one-woman man in his life and explored something else with magnetism” added Me Iris Christol, the defense obtaining a sentence “fairer”.
