A man accused of the rape of his daughter, of a friend of his daughter, and of the sexual assault of his ex-daughter-in-law before the Haute-Corse assizes

The appeal trial for incestuous rape, rape, corruption and violence against minors of Michel Jegat opened this Monday, January 13 before the Assize Court of Haute-Corse. The fifty-year-old, sentenced to twelve years of criminal imprisonment at first instance, denies the accusations against him.

“We have to stop this bullshit. I have been demonstrating my innocence for five years.“Long-sleeved black polo shirt and gray beard, Michel Jegat has a clear voice but sometimes an irritated tone when he speaks from the dock. Former sales executive, father of four children and aged 56, “The man is closely following the first day of his appeal trial before the Haute-Corse Assize Court.”I appealed because from the beginning, I have been innocent. And I finally want to be heard.“

Accused, in particular, of rape of a minor under the age of 15, rape, corruption of minors, violence without ITT, and sexual assault on a minor, Michel Jegat admits to consensual sexual relations with a young woman, but fiercely denies the facts committed against him. reproached. In this case, the fifty-year-old faces his daughter, a friend of the latter, and a former daughter-in-law. All three, as well as the mother of the first, became civil parties.

At the beginning of this affair: the filing of a complaint, on July 31, 2017, by the ex-partner of Michel Jegat for rape of their daughter. The latter was then aged 14. The facts allegedly occurred while the young girl was living with her father, in Corsica, from December 2016 to July 2017.

Before investigators, the teenager reported rape, violence, and incitement to consume and transport narcotics on the part of her father. The young girl notably recounts digital penetrations that occurred several times during a game of “dare, dare or truth”. A game suggested by his father, and in which one of his friends, with whom he had a relationship, also participated.

Aged 16, this second young girl confirmed, to investigators, to have been in a relationship with Michel Jegat – 48 years old at the time -. She testifies to violence committed by the latter against her daughter. Blowjobs, performed by her friend and herself, as part of the game “dare, dare or truth” to the fifty-year-old. The teenager also speaks of being encouraged to smoke cannabis every time he wants to have sex, and of the discovery of narcotics in his luggage upon returning from a trip together.

Auditioned, Michel Jegat admits having given “a few slaps“, et “maybe“a kick in the back of his daughter. Concerning her friend, he speaks of a consensual relationship, having taken place with the consent of the parents of the teenager he was with”lover“. “Sometimes we can't control ourselves“, he then explains, reports the director of investigation. As for his use of narcotics, it is purely recreational, he assures the investigators. For the rest, he denies any incestuous relationship with his daughter or abuse sexual assault on her friend, and any desire for corruption.

The investigation continues, and the young girls' entourage is interviewed. Several people indicated to law enforcement that they had been informed of the sexual abuse in question. A young girl – a classmate of the teenagers – even transmits to investigators messages exchanged with Michel Jegat, in which the latter confesses his feelings to her, explaining that he obliges “to hide them because of [son] age“.

At the same time, Michel Jegat's ex-partners were contacted. It was in 2020, three years after the opening of the file, that the investigations took a new turn, with the testimony of one of Michel Jegat's ex-wives, who dated him from 1988 to 2000. She he reports to the investigators the accusations of his daughter: the one who was her father-in-law for twelve years would have “served from her” has “minus two times“, when he was eleven and thirteen. This, in particular, by masturbating in front of her, or by asking her to masturbate him.

Questioned by video before the Assize Court of Haute-Corse, this mother returns to these revelations “shocks“, which occurred a few months after her separation from Michel Jegat. “It was a cold shower. I felt like they had a good relationship, that everything was going well. I saw nothing, unfortunately, of everything that could be happening.“

She explains to the court that at the time she chose the legal route, by contacting her lawyer who was already handling her divorce proceedings. “She told me we would deal with it after the divorce“. No complaint will ultimately be filed: “My daughter told me she didn't want anything to do with it anymore, she didn't want to see him anymore and it was too hard for her“. Until the file resurfaced, years later, through the accusations of Michel Jegat's daughter.

The accused denies the slightest sexual assault on the woman who was his stepdaughter, and whom he met when she was only two years old. But his mother affirms: “She was never a liar. I always believed her and will always support her.”

Now in her thirties, the young woman in question has become a civil party in this case. She is expected to testify tomorrow, Tuesday January 14, in court. The young girl with whom Michel Jegat had a relationship in 2017 must also be heard. The fifty-year-old's daughter is absent from the trial for medical reasons.

Michel Jegat continues to affirm: he is innocent in this matter. “I only had sex with two young girls [une relation extraconjugale en 2000, et l’amie de sa fille en 2017]and each time they were consensual relationships. We must stop this whole charade which has been going on for five years.“

For Doctor Roger Franc, who was responsible for the psychiatric expertise of the accused, everything “shows that he was lucid, coherent, adapted. Its mode of operation does not allow it to be part of a feeling of guilt“. As part of the relationship he had with his daughter's friend, “he thinks that what he did was reasonable, and made it possible to meet the teenager's expectations“.

However, specifies the specialist, the two girls no longer have a pre-pubescent body, “we are not on a subject which has pedophilic type deviance.“Nevertheless, there remains the hypothesis, again submitted by the doctor, of a”lack of moral sense“, relating to the consumption – even trafficking – of narcotics into which he was able to lead the teenage girls.

Michel Jegat faces up to 20 years of criminal imprisonment. At first instance, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.