The actor and director denied being a “sexual aggressor” on Thursday at the Paris court. One of the civil parties stressed the difficulty of filing a complaint.
Tried for sexual assault and harassment of three women between 2018 and 2023, actor and director Nicolas Bedos denied being a “sexual aggressor” on Thursday at the Paris court, while one of the civil parties stressed the difficulty of filing a complaint.
“I will never be a sexual aggressor, I don’t impose,” said the 45-year-old defendant. “We can talk about heaviness, we can talk about flirting (…) but there is no sexual intention.”
In the courtroom, in the front row, the young woman who filed the complaint against him burst into tears upon hearing these words.
“Our lives have changed.”
The alleged facts date back to the night of June 1 to 2, 2023, during a nightclub party. She accuses the director of walking towards her, head down before reaching out his right hand to her genitals, over her jeans.
In court, Nicolas Bedos maintained that he “remembered nothing” of the evening when he celebrated his partner’s pregnancy. “I would sincerely like to remember what happened.” “Our lives have been turned upside down, my life has been turned upside down,” he moaned.
“I’m not disputing what she said, but it’s her interpretation of a gesture,” he continued, arguing that he would never have put his hand “on a woman’s vagina even over jeans.”
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The defendant admitted to having a problem with alcohol but said he was undergoing therapy and was drinking less today, while turning towards his partner, Pauline Desmonts, sitting in the front row and towards his sister and mother who were also present.
“Fear”
Called to the stand to testify, the complainant had difficulty recounting the evening, her voice breaking into sobs when she had to mime the attack.
“I couldn’t say how long it lasted. I saw who the man was, his eyes scared me,” she explained, curling up in her gray hoodie.
“It costs so much to file a complaint, I can’t sleep anymore… I would have preferred it not to exist,” the young woman continued, “but it’s serious.”
Civil party
In the front row, the two other young women who had denounced the director’s behavior listened to this testimony.
One of them, a waitress in a Parisian bar, told investigators that Nicolas Bedos had grabbed her by the waist and kissed her on the neck on the night of May 11 to 12, 2023, while he was drunk.
The other alleged act, described as sexual harassment, dates back to June 2018. The director is suspected of having touched a young woman’s stomach and asking her to kiss him before following her as she went to the toilet.
Neither of these two women filed a complaint but one of them announced at the opening of the trial that she would be joining the proceedings as a civil party.
