The three children stick together. Looks neat, words chosen, they parade one by one in front of the judges of the court of Thionville to tell what they lived. They are now in their twenties and they evoke sexual assault and violence suffered in their childhood or adolescence. They denounce their parents, a remarried couple at the head of a blended family installed in Florange.
One of the girls accuses her stepfather of having touched her chest, crotch. She says he broke into the bedroom, into the bathroom too. It was in 2011. She was 14 years old. “It’s bullshit,” sweeps the person concerned. He admits, however, that he made advances to her one evening, five years later. The young woman had filmed it. “She was of age,” he recalls. “She was heating me up, she was talking to me about sex,” he pretends. “You destroyed my life,” replies her daughter-in-law.
The accused’s daughter will describe the same feelings as her half-sister. She relates an old episode, which occurred when she was a little girl. “It starts with a hug. She goes on to describe a hand slipped over and under her pajamas. According to her, her father then forced her to stroke his cock over his pants. This memory would have returned to her 19 years later, when she was pregnant. “I still feel it all,” she sobs. The report of an expert psychiatrist shows the fragility of the alleged victims, highlights their suffering, risky behavior, addictive behavior that could be linked to this type of trauma.
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The defense pleads for the release
At the helm, the parents remain unmoved. The father (and stepfather) even cries out for conspiracy, for manipulation. His son accuses the mother-in-law of violence. He repeats the punches with the wooden spoon. He remembers a spit in his face. When she learned that he was smoking, she allegedly forced him to smoke several cigarettes until vomiting and to eat the tobacco. He also speaks of insults, denigration. His father, often described as alcoholic, is also being prosecuted for violence against him. “He was a turbulent boy, he stole money from us, he was stupid at school, he dealt drugs,” argues the dad at the helm.
“Denial is omnipresent in this family,” notes the children’s lawyer. For its part, the defense recalls above all that no material element corroborates the allegations of a sexual nature. It points to contradictions in the comments made, inconsistencies in the dates selected. Me Perioli pleads for release for both parents.
The deputy prosecutor requires, against the father, two years in prison, including one year with a probationary suspension subject to an obligation of care and compensation for victims in particular. She also asks that it be entered in the judicial file which identifies the perpetrators of sexual offenses. The magistrate is claiming two fines of € 750 against the mother for the contraventional violence against her stepson.
The court will deliver its decision on December 7.
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