HAS At the bar of room 3 of the Dax court, Camille (1), 13 years old, says a few words before bursting into tears. The memory of this evening of July 13, 2024 is still vivid in the mind of this teenager. During this summer evening, the young girl goes with her father to the house of the man who appears as a defendant for corruption of minors before the court of the spa town, this Monday, January 6, 2025.
This man was sentenced to twenty-four months in prison, twelve of which were suspended for three years. The prison sentence will be subject to adjustment. It will be carried out at home under electronic monitoring. In addition, he is prohibited from having contact with minors for a period of ten years and will be subject to an obligation of care.
Aged around forty, the man has the build of a front-line player and a strong Toulouse accent. “I was going back and forth to the bathroom to try to wake Dad up,” Camille continues. The young girl took two months before mentioning these facts to one of her friends. The latter ended up informing his father, before he confided in the victim's father.
Grills, alcohol and karaoke
During this meal with colleagues, some grills, karaoke and alcohol liven up the evening. It is 2 a.m., all the guests have left this house located in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. The teenager finds herself alone facing her tormentor after her father falls asleep on the sofa. He invites her to join him in his room. Then he puts on his pajamas. And take off his duvet. The schoolgirl then sees the forty-year-old “touching his penis”. He categorically refutes this last point.
“I was tired. I wanted to sleep, explains the man who is now a delivery driver. I suggested we go to the couch or the guest room. She replied: ''I don't want to''. » In his version of the facts, the defendant indicates that he lay down and discussed “everything and nothing” with the teenager, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“You don’t find it curious to suggest this kind of thing to a 12-year-old girl,” asks the president of the court. He maintains his argument. “There was no bad thought or desire,” the man defends. He highlights his homosexuality to justify the fact that he was not attracted to the teenager. It was during this same evening that the defendant exposed his sexual orientation to Camille's father. “I explained that I was part of an LGBT rugby team. »
“A big teddy bear”
“Why would Camille come and lie? », begins Me Labadie. “She has no reason to do this. The word “weird” was the first word she found to explain what she experienced. She found herself trapped in that room and insisted on leaving quickly when her father woke up. She was afraid of his reaction, which is why she remained silent. She said to herself: ''It could go very far''. » The lawyer for the civil parties underlined the need to maintain psychological monitoring so that “it can be built by putting this traumatic event aside”.
Benoît Fontaine, public prosecutor, insisted on the seriousness of the facts. He recalled that the teenager had no reason to lie. “His dad, without animosity, still presents him (the defendant, Editor's note) today as a 'big teddy bear'. » The representative of the public prosecutor said he was “worried” about the defendant’s lack of questioning. And wanted to emphasize that “confession was no longer the queen of evidence”.
The defense lawyer, Me Franck, deplored “the shortcomings” of this investigation. According to her, her client “pays” for his criminal record, which is the subject of four mentions, including two for facts of a similar nature. She continues: “We cannot condemn someone based on the words of a single person, without an external element corroborating these words. » The Dax court did it.
(1) The first name has been changed.
