Dino Scala trial: "He screwed up my life", testifies a 75-year-old victim

Lionel Gougelot, edited by Gauthier Delomez with AFP 9:13 p.m., June 14, 2022

"He screwed up my life": a first victim, aged 75, testified on Wednesday at the trial of Dino Scala for rape and sexual assault, before leaving the room in tears, tested by the questions of the court and of defense.

On that day in October 1991, aged 45, "I worked in primary schools, in Maubeuge. We started around 6 o'clock in the morning", begins, in a trembling voice, this small, slender woman with white hair, leaning on a cane in front of the Court of Assizes of Douai.

"I even spoke to my children more"

"I was waiting for my work colleague (...) I was attacked by a man, who grabbed my arm and took me to a garbage room," she explains.

"He slammed me against the wall, he grabbed me by the throat, he scratched my face. I shouted 'help, don't kill me, I have children'", s' she strangles.

The man "tried to put his hand in my jeans, but he couldn't. I was scared, I was terrified".

She no longer remembers why he finally gave up, "the years have passed" she almost apologizes.

Then she breaks down, in tears: "he screwed up my life, with my husband and my children".

"I even spoke to my children more", "I did not want to say it".

"My husband, he was trying to comfort me, and I didn't even want him to touch me anymore."

She regrets that she was offered neither psychological nor gynecological follow-up, "I was sent to the doctor, that's all".

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A contradiction pointed out by the President of the Court

The president then resumes his first testimony, pointing out contradictions, she listens, hears badly.

"You were heard right away (...) but re-examined by the PJ, 27 years later, you say something completely different," he told her.

"At the time you say: I fell off my bike".

"I never said that," she replies.

"You say, 'he's got a big mustache,'" he continues to read, as she breaks down.

"I did not lie, that I assure you," she trembles.

Then in an aside to his lawyer Fanny Bruyerre: "So am I the accused?"

The defense in turn multiplies the questions: "you said" that he had touched you "over the pants".

"He did not manage to unbutton", still tries to answer the complainant.

Before deciding that "enough is enough".

She leaves the room in tears, on the arm of a loved one, triggering a skirmish between lawyers.

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A brief adjournment

After a brief hearing suspension, she goes back to the bar facing the defense, before giving up again, "I don't feel well".

"I am not the aggressor of this lady", then assured Dino Scala.

The modus operandi is not his, according to him.

The accused, who is appearing for 17 rapes, 12 attempted rapes and 27 assaults or attempted sexual assaults, is still contesting some of them.

Of the four assaults examined on Wednesday, he will only recognize one, which he has denied until then. And says he has "virtually no" memory of the faces of his victims.