The Moroccan singer was found guilty of aggravated rape this Friday in Paris when he was accused of raping a young woman in the capital in 2016.
Moroccan star singer Saad Lamjarred has been recognized guilty this Friday of aggravated rape on Laura P., a young woman he had met in a nightclub in 2016 on the sidelines of a concert planned in the capital in 2016. He was sentenced to a 6-year prison sentence.
After seven hours of deliberation, the court decided “convinced” rape, “describes consistently and accurately” by the civil party Laura P. since her complaint. A warrant of committal has been issued, Saad Lamjarred will therefore be detained immediately. The 37-year-old singer, adored in Morocco and known throughout the Arab world, has also been accused of rape in New York, Casablanca and Saint-Tropez.
The day before, a sentence of seven years’ imprisonment had been requested by the Advocate General. “Mr. Lamjarred was guilty of acts of rape”he declared at the end of his indictment before the Paris Assize Court, also asking for a ban on the territory of five years.
During the hearing, the two versions first corresponded before drastically parting ways. Where Saad Lamjarred recounted an evening of flirting and alcohol, Laura P. assured, trembling and in tears, that the singer told him “pushed [l] head knocked on the ground”. The young woman, 20 at the time, also described her incomprehension, her hair which he had pulled, straddling her despite her repeated refusals. According to her, he had undressed her by force, then had licked her body before inflicting a first punch, then two digital penetrations, vaginal and anal, and a brief penile penetration. She had then managed to push him away by biting him in the lower back.
“I’m not saying she lied, I’m saying she may have been wrong”
According to Saad Lamjarred, targeted by several other very similar rape charges in New York, Casablanca, Saint-Tropez, on which he refuses to comment, the two protagonists were undressing when he felt a “very painful scratch in the back”. “I did something that I regret, I pushed him in the face brutally. It was an involuntary reflex, I’m not proud of it., “I’m not like that”explained the singer, navy sweater on a white shirt, recalling that he had drunk and consumed cocaine, an aggravating circumstance. “I shouldn’t have done that, a real man doesn’t do that”he continued.
Then the singer became even more solemn: “Madam President, I say it today and I will say it until my last breath, I, Saad Lamjarred, have never penetrated Laura P., in any way.” Without turning around, he addressed her. “I’m sorry for this reflex of violence, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Asked about the version of Laura P. by the president, Saad Lamjarred replied: “I’m not saying she lied, I’m saying maybe she was wrong.” “What was she wrong about?”asked the president. “Either she’s making it up…but it’s hard to confuse acts of this nature with a slap.” “Do you have an explanation?” reminds the president. Answer : “I’ve no idea.”
