He is accused of raping his stepdaughter who was a child: “I never hurt anyone”

Me Laure Mattler represents the young woman who filed a complaint against the accused. Midi Libre – C.R.

Since Monday, January 15, 2024, Jean-Louis C. has appeared before the Gard Assize Court. This sixty-year-old is accused of having raped his stepdaughter who was around ten years old. The sixty-year-old defended by Me Aurélien Vergani denies these serious facts, dating from 1996. 

Since this Monday, Jean-Louis C., a man from Nîmes, has appeared before the Gard Assize Court. This sixty-year-old is accused of having raped his wife's daughter. The facts denounced are old. For a year and a half, the stepfather allegedly sexually abused the girl, aged around ten years old, and raped her. The facts date back more than 20 years (1996-1997). And the order for referral to the Gard Assize Court dates back to November 2018. The wait For the young complainant and the accused it therefore took a very long time for this case to arrive before the Assize Court. The young woman, the civil party, is represented by Me Laure Mattler before the Gard Assize Court. And the accused is defended by Me Aurélien Vergani. More than twenty witnesses and experts are summoned before the court.

" I'm shocked by what I heard today

"I have never hurt anyone", protests Jean-Louis who appears free before the Assize Court du Gard. And I'm shocked by what I heard today."

The little girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather, the day after the birth of her brother. " If you talk about it, I'll kill you all, your brother, your sisters and your mother,” his father-in-law reportedly declared. These  rapes allegedly continued at the family home or in the father-in-law's vehicle. Before each sexual assault and rape, the stepfather allegedly asked her if she consented, until the day the girl expressed her refusal. She would then have been  insulted: "dirty P… bastard".

Following a report from a social worker, an initial investigation was unsuccessful. Jean-Louis' daughter-in-law filed a complaint a few years later. A judicial investigation for rape of a minor under 15 years old is opened and entrusted to an investigating judge. The young woman confirms her accusations. The father-in-law protests, reiterates his denials and assures that it is a plot against him. "That never happened. Everything is entirely false, protests the accused. Jean-Louis had a particularly difficult childhood. He was raised by his mother and abandoned by a father who allegedly raped him when he was a child. " These are things I kept to myself. I was 8 years old. It was at the Cabanes de Pérols. My mother knew nothing about it. And I swore to myself that I would never do what I suffered, declares this sixty-year-old.< /p>

Jean-Louis barely knows how to read and write and has started a family. He is the father of three children. Four children with this child he raised and who filed a complaint against him. This child was his wife's daughter. " I was proud of her. I took care of her. It was the first child I had, declares the accused. I am 60 years old. What helps me are my children. You have to have been through what I experienced to understand. My mother was getting hit. When my father left us, we had nothing to eat." The debates before the Gard Assize Court continue this Tuesday. The verdict is expected this Wednesday or Thursday.

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