A former figure skating coach from the Asnières-sur-Seine club in Hauts-de-Seine, was indicted and imprisoned for sexual assault and rape of three teenage girls while he was their coach. The three women filed a complaint on February 4 for facts dating back to between 2005 and 2009.
Former coach denies facts
At the material time, the young girls were between 14 and 16 years old. One of them, the oldest, denounces acts of sexual assault dating back to 2005. The other two, now aged 26 and 27, accuse their former coach of having raped them when they were adolescents . The suspect was between 25 and 27 years old at the time and is accused of having forced them to have sexual relations within the Asnières club.
For his part, the former coach denies any constraint, assures his lawyer Margaux Mathieu. "He talks about relationships with these two young women. He was a very young coach and they never expressed the slightest refusal," she said.
Incited by Sarah Abitbol's revelations
The investigation was entrusted to the departmental security of Hauts-de-Seine. The suspect, arrested on February 11, had not worked at the Asnières club for several years according to a judicial source. He worked as a salesperson in a shop selling sporting goods, especially ice sports.
He was indicted and imprisoned on February 14. According to the three complainants, it was Sarah Abitbol's book accusing her ex-trainer Gilles Beyer of rape that prompted them to act. In Un si long silence , the former European and world multi-medalized couple champion denounces facts that would have occurred between 1990 and 1992, when she was 15 to 17 years old.
The work unleashed a wave of indignation in the world of sport and in particular figure skating, some denouncing the omerta which reigns in certain clubs concerning sexual violence. Justice opened an investigation on February 4 on sexual violence in figure skating and the boss of the federation Didier Gailhaguet was forced to resign by the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu.