In Nîmes, the sixty-year-old was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the rape of his 11-year-old stepdaughter in 1996

L'accusé jugé par la cour d'assises du Gard a toujours nié avoir violé cette enfant. Midi Libre – Mika Anisset

The attorney general had requested 15 years of criminal imprisonment against Jean-Louis, a man from Nîmes, who denies having raped, in Nîmes, this child aged around ten years old. 39;years in 1996-1997. The young woman filed a complaint in 2012. 

The protests and protests of Jean-Louis Curtil, accused of rape, did not convince the jurors of the Gard Assize Court, this Thursday, January 18 2024.  Nîmes is sentenced to 12 years of criminal imprisonment and 10 years of deprivation of civil rights.

The victim is his daughter-in-law. She was 11 years old when her stepfather raped her for the first time, the day after the birth of her little brother, in 1996. This verdict was greeted with silence. impressive. The victim was supported by his companion, his friends and his relatives. His mother and the couple's last three children have always been at the side of the accused who denies the alleged facts. 

" This trial was enormously hoped for and awaited", recalled Me Laure Mattler, who has been accompanying the victim, since his filing of a complaint in 2012, at the Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort gendarmerie. But it took more than 10 years, after the opening of a judicial investigation, then the indictment of the father-in-law, for this sensitive case to be judged by the Assize Court. du Gard. "She's a young woman who doesn't make any fuss. And his statements were confirmed by certain elements of the investigation" pleaded the lawyer. Neighbors on rue Galilée in Nîmes had alerted social services in 1991 about suspicions of violence. A few years later, the child was interviewed by the police at the Nîmes police station, after a new report. The father had not been interviewed. The child who had said nothing had left with his mother. The investigation ended there.

"Witnesses who witness nothing"

The general advocate, Martine Assossion had requested, "at a minimum, a sentence of 15 years of criminal imprisonment"." To celebrate the birth of his son, he rapes this girl… There was this constant request from Mr., a violent man, asking for his permission before raping her. And in the following months, each time, he asked her: "Are you okay ?".  This kid does&# 39;was waiting, with a lump in his stomach. In 1997, she had the courage to say no. And everything stopped. 

Me Aurélien Vergani had the difficult task of defending the accused, "a man who defends himself as best he can.< /em> " His explanations, whether you like them or not, are the only ones for 11 years.. Jean-Louis affirms that' he did not rape this child. The evidence ?  This is just a rehash of what this young woman said in her depositions, And it's not not enough. A file before the Assize Court is not a puzzle, it's a demonstration. Either there are elements… or not", protests the lawyer, evoking "fragments of clues& ;quot; and " witnesses… who witness nothing".< /p> I subscribe to read more