Ban on practicing for the pharmacist who harassed his staff, near Montpellier

La pharmacie de Gignac a changé de propriétaire depuis. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Déjà condamné dans les Pyrénées-Orientales, le pharmacien avait récidivé à Gignac en se livrant à des faits de harcèlement moral et sexuel sur ses salariés.

Just a month ago, Stéphane, a 64-year-old man, appeared for seven hours before the Montpellier criminal court. From 2017 to 2021, he engaged in moral and sexual harassment of numerous employees of a pharmacy in Gignac – resold since – of which he was the manager.

His behavior had led to numerous departures and sick leave. Some victims still receive psychological follow-up, years later. The intervention of the Labor Inspectorate was followed by an investigation by the gendarmes.

Already sentenced to seven months in prison for similar acts, in 2016, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the man has just been sentenced again.

Thirteen victims

He was sentenced to two years in prison, one of which will be firm, which he will serve under an electronic tag. The probationary suspension will be accompanied by various measures: obligation to receive treatment, obligation to compensate the victims, prohibition on contacting them. All with provisional execution, which means that the convicted person cannot escape it, even if he appeals.

The court also revoked the seven-month suspended sentence to which Stéphane had been sentenced in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
Above all, the judges pronounced a permanent ban on practicing the profession of pharmacist. A decision that the convicted person cannot escape if he appeals the judgment.

Thirteen employees out of nineteen had joined as civil parties. They were all declared admissible. Stéphane will have to pay them the total sum of 37,000 euros, which covers both damages and lawyers' fees.

The court also ordered a medical assessment for two victims.

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