A septuagenarian is tried for the rapes by surprise of several women, until Friday, before the Departmental Criminal Court of Hérault.
This Niçois is accused of having passed himself off on the Internet as a 37-year-old playboy, an interior designer, and of having offered the victims an erotic scenario close to “Fifty shades of Gray”, blindfolded, in the dark .
But some women eventually found out who their partner really was, and filed a complaint.
The accused, for his part, refutes the accusations of rape by surprise.
To investigators, he always indicated that he had neither threatened nor forced anyone to do anything.
He is an old man, with white hair and a weakened gait, who appeared this Monday before the Departmental Criminal Court of Hérault.
This septuagenarian, a retired former publicist, is on trial until Friday, accused of having raped by surprise several women.
If other potential victims had been identified by the investigators, three ultimately filed a civil suit.
This 74-year-old Niçois is suspected of having introduced himself to these women, on dating sites, as being a certain Anthony Laroche, a 37-year-old interior designer, with the look of a playboy, forging relationships with them remotely inflamed.
The photo on her profile, showing a particularly attractive looking suitor, was actually that of a model, snatched from a clothing site.
"I never gave my consent to this man, I gave it to Anthony Laroche"
Until the meeting, in the flesh.
There, all of the complainants told much the same story.
The man would have refused to see them in a public place, instead offering them a first meeting at his home, in an erotic scenario close to
Fifty Shades of Gray
.
One of them explained to investigators that she had had sex with the accused while blindfolded.
He had, she said, forbidden her to touch him, or to remove the blindfold from her eyes.
But she ended up, like others, by finding out who her partner really was, a paunchy man with wrinkled skin, according to the investigation report.
Each time, the same modus operandi was repeated.
According to Mohamed Maktouf, the lawyer for the civil parties, the man manipulated the victims "by lying about his identity, by putting a fake photo on his profile, by saying things that are not true, by setting up a ploy , to arrive at his ends ".
According to Samia Maktouf, also a lawyer for the victims, the accused “chose his prey.
One of them told us that she could have jumped into the void, if he had asked her.
And when you are under control, there is no consent ”.
"I never gave my consent to that man, I gave it to Anthony Laroche," said one of the victims, during his hearing by investigators.
"For him, it was a consented erotic scenario"
The accused refutes the accusations of rape by surprise. To investigators, he always indicated that he had neither threatened nor forced anyone to do anything. “For him, it was an erotic scenario agreed, says Laurent Poumarède, the lawyer of the accused. He disputes the facts with which he is accused. "This case has divided justice for many years: in 2017, it ordered the defendant's referral to the Alpes-Maritimes Assize Court. But after an appeal from the defense, the Court of Appeal had led to the stay of the proceedings. A decision finally overturned by the Court of Cassation, which allowed the septuagenarian to be brought to justice this week in Montpellier.
The Hérault Departmental Criminal Court will deliver its verdict on Friday.
It will be the first time in France that such a court will rule on a rape by surprise.
Justice
Montpellier: A Niçois tried for numerous rapes by surprise on victims seduced on dating sites
Justice
Besançon: The husband of a former nursery assistant suspected of rape of minors, a "call for victims" launched
Languedoc-Roussillon
Investigation
Rape
Nice
Montpellier
Justice