A 76-year-old man, presenting himself as a healer and intercessor of the archangel Gabriel, appears before the Finistère criminal court from this Monday. In pre-trial detention since 2021, he is accused of raping several women in vulnerable situations, whom he allegedly abused under the cover of spiritual practices.
A magnetizer at the heart of an unexpected investigation
It was in January 2021, in the canton of Huelgoat (Finistère), that the affair broke out by chance. The man, in the grip of a crisis, threatens to end his life during an altercation at his home. Automatically hospitalized, this incident led the gendarmes to question his wife. She then reveals serious suspicions: her husband would have sexually abused several of his patients by taking advantage of their vulnerability.
Charismatic and endowed with a certain verve, the septuagenarian presented himself as magnetizer-therapist, druid and sometimes wished to be called “angel”. He claimed to be in communication with the archangel Gabriel, using this mystical aura to convince his interlocutors of his supposed powers of healing and divination.
Several women, interviewed by investigators from the Carhaix gendarmerie, described a manipulative man who told them that they had been in a relationship with him in a previous life. Under this psychological influence, he allegedly led them into non-consensual sexual relations.
Victims seeking help, trapped by manipulation
The victims share one thing in common: a situation of heightened vulnerability at the time of the events. One suffered from severe kidney failure, desperately seeking a solution to her ailments. Another had just experienced a difficult emotional breakup. A third, from Concarneau, was in distress facing infertility problems. The accused allegedly told her that she was a man in a previous life, thus explaining her difficulties in conceiving a child.
The investigation, entrusted to the Brest criminal division, reveals other damning testimonies. The daughter of a former companion of the accused claims to have been the victim of sexual touching at the age of nine, thus broadening the charges to acts of incestuous rape of a 15 year old minor. Furthermore, a woman met during the yellow vest movement in Quimperlé reports having been abused during a session after being seduced by his esoteric speech.
The accused, defended by Me Plantec of the Brest bar, denies the acts of rape and abuse of a minor. He maintains that the sexual relations were consensual and part of a process intended to “bring out the evil.” Five women became civil parties, represented by the prosecution led by Jean-Luc Lennon from the Quimper public prosecutor’s office.
The trial, scheduled for October 14, 15 and 16, 2024will be decisive in establishing the truth about the actions of this man who allegedly took advantage of the distress of vulnerable people to fulfill his designs.
Photo credit: DR
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