Sex with a 16-year-old teenager for drugs: in Montpellier, the incredible abuse of a child welfare educator

Me Chantal Corbier d’Hauteville, avocate de l’adolescente. MIDI LIBRE – François Barrère

Convicted, the fifty-year-old is also prohibited from any professional activity with minors, and he will no longer be able to work in the public service. He was facing seven years for having resorted to the prostitution of a minor, while he was in a position of authority due to his professional duties in the home where the young girl had been placed.

"He paid me 30 € with a 10 of shit or a 20 of weed. It was misery. He gave me the stuff afterwards, it was agreed without us saying it. In January 2023, Rebecca, a 16-year-old teenager, in running away from the child welfare home where she was placed a few months earlier, delivering terrible confidences to the Montpellier police. Because this young girl, in complete distress, has become a drug addict, and has engaged in prostitution since her placement.

"Sex every day with different people"

"I have a shitty life. Now, I'm pregnant, and I'm going to have to abort. I have sex every day with different people, four to six times a day.

Worse. She coldly explains that one of her clients is an educator in the structure that hosts her. And she details: a fellatio in the company car, two sexual encounters at her home, in exchange for narcotics, on which she is then totally dependent.

50 years old and father of two children

Aged 50, father of two children, remarried, the educator ends up admitting the unthinkable in police custody, where he recognizes the two reports at his home, explaining that he had been "touched" by Rebecca's distress, while he himself was in a moment of fragility, the mother of his children being seriously ill. "Frankly, it’s a favorite. Ok, it’s a minor, but I wasn't wondering about it, for me it’ rsquo;is a person who was of sexual majority."

But this Wednesday, May 22, in front of the criminal court and his wife, attentive in the room, the educator, laid off since the affair , makes an about-face, even denying these confessions made in police custody. "I’I was terrified, I thought I would never see my children again"he stammers, putting forward vague explanations in the face of the evidence.

"You're smearing her by saying she's lying"

"Beyond having abused your functions, < em>you are smearing her even more today by saying that she is lying" replies Me Chantal Corbier d’Hauteville, who defends Rebecca, today the mother of a young child, and who is trying to rebuild her shattered life.

"Things have happened to her that are so difficult that she is completely destroyed psychologically. She recounts a very painful life journey almost as if she had come out of herself, which is the case for all extremely traumatized people.

He escaped prosecution for rape

And the lawyer addresses the defendant. "The judicial system has given you a gift, because I consider that what you did is rape" she insists, while he faces seven years for having resorted to the prostitution of a minor, being in a position of authority, since he was ;the young girl’s educator.

Rebecca's mother doesn't hide her anger. "I would like to recontextualize things. We were deeply shocked by the system. Our daughter, since she was 11 years old, has had psychological problems, she has attempted suicide, and was placed in a home after the psychiatric hospital. But at home, the situation deteriorated, she fell into drug addiction and prostitution, and she associated with bad people."

The purchase of a sexual act is prohibited by law

"The purchase of a sexual act is prohibited by law, even more so when it concerns a minor&quot ; recalls Me Amiot, for the Amicale du Nid, civil party. "On tells ourselves that when we are placed, we will be safe, and there it is& ;rsquo;educator who is going to attack him! This shivers down your spine"

"The facts are extremely serious, in the criminal court you would have received a sentence of 12 or 15 years"thunder on his side Me Marc Gallix civil party for Rebecca's parents.

Unacceptable behavior for the prosecutor

"He explains that he is the one who provides the condom, he says how long the intercourse lasts.  He is perfectly aware that his behavior is anything but professional" recalls the prosecutor. "Instead of positioning himself properly against this minor, he aggravated his difficulties."

Me Anne Sévenier, in defense, tries to counterattack. "If there was first a trial to be done, it would be that of the childhood home", she moves forward. "I am convinced of her innocence, and that she was a victim of the facts she denounces, but that he’s not the author" .

One of the heaviest sentences handed down for a prostitute's client

But after a very brief deliberation, the court followed the prosecutor's requisitions to the letter: four years in prison, three of which were suspended, and placement under an electronic bracelet for the firm party, ban on any professional activity with minors or in the public service, and registration in the file of perpetrators of sexual offenses.

"This is undoubtedly one of the biggest sentences inflicted in France on a prostitute's client" indicated after the hearing an educator from the Amicale du Nid, which opened a branch in Montpellier three years ago specifically dedicated to the fight against the prostitution of minors, which is in full expansion, in Hérault as throughout France.

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