Paris (AFP)
Coline Berry-Rojtman, who accuses her father of incest, actor Richard Berry, returned Thursday for long hours in front of investigators on his childhood memories and his version of events, a "painful but necessary test", according to his lawyer.
The eldest daughter of the comedian, aged 44, remained for about six hours in the premises of the brigade for the protection of minors (BPM), in the shadow of the Paris court.
She "was able to denounce the facts she suffered, explain, detail. We did not come empty-handed, (...) now the police will be able to do their job," said in a brief statement to the press Me Karine Shebabo, next to her client, silent.
Coline Berry-Rojtman, born of the union between Richard Berry and actress Catherine Hiegel, lodged a complaint on January 25, claiming to have decided to take the plunge after the publication of Camille Kouchner's book "La Familia Grande", at the origin of the Duhamel affair and a free speech in France on incest.
The same day, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened an investigation to examine the veracity of these accusations of "rape and sexual assault on a 15-year-old minor by ascendant" and "corruption of a minor".
It is also a question of verifying their possible prescription, possibly acquired since 2014 and the 38th birthday of the complainant.
"We can say that this painful but necessary ordeal is behind us," the lawyer said in front of the cameras.
"It was for us to restore order in the disorder, to restore the law in a father-daughter relationship which was sorely lacking".
"Let those who are listening to us hear how heartbreaking it is to come and denounce your father: to denounce a member of your family is to dirty yourself, so today you really have to stop disempowering, excusing the authors, ”added Me Shebabo.
- "Filthy" accusations -
On February 2, when the affair became public, Richard Berry denied "with all (his) strength and without ambiguity these filthy accusations".
"I have never had inappropriate or incestuous relations with Coline, nor with any of my children," the actor had assured in a long text published on his Instagram account.
He then wrote that "(his daughter's allegations were) false" and that his story had "evolved over time".
Coline replied the next day that her complaint was "a serious, thoughtful and balanced act".
On the same social network, she indicated that she had been "kissed by her father on the mouth with the tongue" and had "had to participate in sexual games in a context of notorious domestic violence".
According to the complaint, cited by Le Monde, it would have happened, around the years 1984-85, that Richard Berry proposed to his daughter "to play in the orchestra with her sexual organs and those of his partner" at the time, the singer Jeane Manson.
The child would have been "forced to put his mouth on the sex" of his father, it is described in the complaint, according to the daily.
"My narrative of the facts has never varied, many testimonies can be provided to support this assertion, especially within my own family," she replied.
According to Richard Berry, 70, accusations of his daughter's sexual assault began seven years ago, when his new wife was pregnant and Coline, who was four years younger than her, was at the same time expecting a child. .
"For years, I tried to talk to him (...) without success. I opened up to psychiatrists, to my family, to my friends," he said.
The family of this figure of cinema and theater, described as conflictual, has since been divided between his supports and those of his daughter.
Coline Berry would have, according to her father, "reworked her story" after the publication in January of Camille Kouchner's book, in which the author accuses her former stepfather, Olivier Duhamel, of having sexually assaulted her twin brother when 'he was a teenager in the 80s.
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