The story has been talked about a lot in recent days in the city. And for good reason: a 21-year-old student approached when leaving work by a group of six individuals, and raped by one of them, is shocking.
Except it's all false. She ended up admitting it during a new hearing before the police at the end of the week. The public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne, David Charmatz, confirmed it to us this Tuesday: “She revealed that she invented everything. »
“Inconsistencies led to a new hearing”
In her first statements, the 21-year-old young woman claimed to have been approached by a group of six men while she was leaving her student job, Wednesday November 20 around 10 p.m., in the Soleil district. Then she was dragged aside and one of them forced her to perform oral sex.
She then returned home in a state of shock and confided in her boyfriend, who alerted the police. But since then, “the police have carefully investigated these facts, which were extremely serious, and noted some inconsistencies which led to a new hearing,” explains the prosecutor.
Inconsistencies and the exploitation of video surveillance: a source close to the investigation indicates that, on cameras sweeping the neighborhood, we see the young woman getting into a vehicle of her own free will. And never come across people on foot.
“A useless psychosis” and wasted time
Why make up such a serious story? “She did it for reasons that are personal to her and have little interest,” adds the prosecutor. Which also specifies: “We had chosen not to communicate on these facts” at the time the complaint was filed. “On the other hand, this episode reminds us that we (police, gendarmerie, justice) always work in charge and in defense. »
The young woman will be prosecuted for “imaginary offense”. The Penal Code, in its article 434-26, provides that “the fact of falsely reporting to the judicial or administrative authority facts constituting a crime or an offense which has exposed the judicial authorities to unnecessary research is punishable by six months' imprisonment and a fine of 7,500 euros. »
A police officer, consulted on the subject, concluded: “Apart from creating unnecessary psychosis, all the time that my colleagues spent on this case is as much time as they did not devote to other affairs, very real ones. »
