At his trial, Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred swears that he did not rape Laura P.
Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred, second from the right, leaves the courthouse this Monday, February 20, 2023 in Paris after the first day of hearing in his trial.
AP - Sylvie Corbet
Text by: Marine de La Moissonnière Follow
4 mins
Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred gave his version of the facts on Wednesday, on the third day of his rape trial.
Facts that would have occurred in October 2016, in his hotel room in Paris.
The story of the 37-year-old star is totally different from that of Laura P., the young Frenchwoman who accuses her.
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“
I'm not saying Laura is lying, but maybe she was wrong.
“Saad Lamjarred, he is formal: he has never penetrated the young woman aged 20 at the time.
In his hotel room, they kiss repeatedly.
They are very excited.
He drank alcohol and used cocaine.
Not her.
Not only does Laura let him undress her, but she helps him, says the singer who also strips naked.
However, they never went any further, because suddenly, for some reason he doesn't know, the young woman scratches him on the back.
So, says the singer, “
I had a bad reflex that I regret today: I brutally pushed his face away.
I am ashamed.
No man should hit a woman.
»
"I'm no better than you"
Saad Lamjarred continues his timid
mea culpa
by directly addressing Laura P. who, since the start of her hearing, has looked away and lowered her head.
“
I am sorry for this unintentional violence.
I didn't mean to make you sad or make you cry.
He himself burst into tears when talking about his current situation.
"
Know Laura that I'm not better than you (...) I try to smile, to make videos, but I don't want to smile
", hardly articulates the singer known throughout the Arab world, who has hundreds of millions of views on YouTube.
►
To read also: Trial of Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred: the complainant describes the "nightmare" experienced
In the small courtroom filled with fans and the curious, the star resumes her story: the 150 euros he gives her to pay for her taxi, not to silence her, he assures us;
the silver bracelet he gives her, a “
gentleman gift
”;
how he rips her T-shirt when he wants to hold her back to clear up what he describes as a “
misunderstanding
”;
the panic that overcomes him when hotel employees call the police.
Other rape cases
Comfortable at the bar, the singer gives details to the court and to the lawyers who question him.
But when it comes to other very similar rape charges against him, he refuses to explain.
Earlier in the afternoon, a Franco-Moroccan woman was heard behind closed doors who said she had been attacked by the singer in April 2015, in Casablanca.
Under pressure from her family who lives in Morocco, she has since withdrawn her complaint and this Wednesday, the police had to take her by force to the Lyon court so that she could testify by videoconference.
During the hearing of Saad Lamjarred, the president also evokes another case concerning him and for which he will be tried by the Assize Court of Var.
According to the judgment of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, of which the magistrate reads passages, a young woman was allegedly raped by the singer in Saint-Tropez, on August 26, 2018. Like Laura P., she met him at a nightclub and then followed him to his hotel.
On the balcony of her bedroom, the star tries to kiss her.
She refuses.
He becomes violent and rapes her.
Tells him about a consensual relationship, claims that the complainant took off her pants herself and had fun.
During the investigation, the police seize Saad Lamjarred's phone and discover exchanges with another woman.
"
I don't feel well.
You have been violent
“, she wrote to him (“
I do not feel well. You have been violent
”).
This person was heard and denounces having been attacked in similar circumstances.
A procedure is in progress.
In total, Saad Lamjarred has therefore been accused of rape five times, in New York, Paris, Casablanca and Saint-Tropez.
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