This November 4, 2019, in Agnetz in the Oise, there is amazement: the lifeless body of Roger Matassoli, a 91-year-old former priest, is discovered, a crucifix stuck in his throat. The crime is all the more shocking because Father Matassoli was a sporting, smiling and modern priest, who had boosted attendance at catechism and Sunday mass.
The same day, the gendarmes arrested a young man named Alexandre who was zigzagging behind the wheel of the victim’s vehicle… Haggard, he was immediately transferred to the psychiatric hospital while waiting to be questioned. What is this 19 year old doing at the wheel of the priest’s car? Could he have anything to do with his death?
When questioned, Fabienne, Alexandre’s mother, was in shock. Father Matassoli was a friend of the family. It was even he who celebrated his marriage with Alexandre’s father. The priest was a second father figure for the teenager, a spiritual father. However, for several months, after repeated visits to the priest, the young boy had become unrecognizable… to the point of sinking into a depressive state.
A sexually predatory priest
And this is not the only discovery made by the gendarmes: because the man of the Church would in fact be a sexual predator. In Saint-André-Farivillers in Oise, a small village of 350 souls where he worked as a priest for 30 years, Father Matassoli left his mark on the minds of his faithfulFor better and for worse.
Strangely, for the priest, becoming an altar boy was a privilege reserved for boys… Invited to come and play at his house, the presbytery was like their second home. But today in the small village, several men accuse the priest of sexual abuse.
Aged between 6 and 14 years old at the time of the events, they claim to have done cleaning or gardening in the presbytery… naked.
According to them, the priest even gave himself a camcorder. He films everything then plays the tapes again. On one of them, we see him naked as a worm, accompanied by children. Complaints were even filed but, heard by the police, the priest always slipped through the cracks…
Worse still, a canonical investigation has been ordered by the Vatican. It was a priest from Oise who was in charge. In just six months, he found five victims. Only his report will remain in the oblivion of the Church. Would the pedophile priest have set his sights on Alexandre? Would the young man have taken revenge by making him swallow his faith?
>> Enquêtes Criminelles is the News magazine on W9, presented by Nathalie Renoux. It’s also a podcast. Every week, Jean-Marie Goix recounts an emblematic case which is or has been in the news.
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