After nine months of investigations, a 38-year-old homeless man from Fez, Morocco, was arrested in Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) in the context of a sordid case of rape of a minor.
The man, wanted since April 2024, was arrested Thursday December 12, 2024 during a routine police check in the streets of the city, we learned from a judicial source. He would have been identified thanks to a composite portrait, established from the elements provided by the victim, which highlighted a distinctive sign: the absence of teeth in the middle of his jaw.
He was celebrating his birthday
The facts date from April 13, 2024. That day, a sixteen-year-old teenager, from a small village southwest of Cahors in the Lot, went to Montauban to celebrate his birthday by attending a rugby match. of the Montalbanese Sports Union (USM).
After the meeting, the young man, who was initially supposed to stay with a friend, found himself without a solution for the night. He then decides to go to the station. It was on the Pont Vieux that he was stopped by an outsider accompanied by his dog.
The latter allegedly followed him to the Villebourbon SNCF station, before driving him against his will to a parking lot where he allegedly imposed extremely violent sexual acts on him. In a state of astonishment, the young Lotois would not have been able to resist his attacker.
His statements were taken very seriously by the police who took the teenager to the hospital to carry out medical and gynecological examinations. Deeply affected by this tragedy, the teenager attempted to end his life some time after the events.
Wanted for nine months
Montauban Urban Security investigators have since despaired of confusing the misfit, particularly thanks to the biological samples taken from the victim.
DNA analyzes confirmed the identity of the alleged rapist, despite his denials in police custody. The thirty-year-old, who stammered a few words in French, had to be assisted by an Arabic interpreter. Undocumented, he thought he was the subject of an identity check as part of an OQTF (Obligation to leave French territory).
Presented to the Montalbanese investigating judge Elsa Servant-Bouchite, Friday December 13, 2024, the thirty-year-old did not give up anything before the magistrate. The marginal maintained his statements made during his police custody, namely: that he was not in Montauban on the date of the events. These denials did not convince the judge who reminded him that his DNA had been found on the victim.
Locked up in Beausoleil
“The suspect was indicted for rape and sexual assault on a fifteen-year-old minor,” indicates the public prosecutor of Montauban, contacted by us. Bruno Sauvage confirms that following his presentation at the joint request of the prosecutor’s office and the investigating judge, the thirty-year-old was placed in pre-trial detention at the Beausoleil remand center.
Contacted by La Dépêche du MidiMe Amélie Piazzon, the suspect’s lawyer, refused to speak, citing the secrecy of the investigation.
