Sailor Kevin Escoffier before court for sexual assault
Sailor Kevin Escoffier from Saint-Malo is appearing on Monday 9 November before the Lorient tribunal for sexual assault. Four women have filed complaints against him.
Appeal trial of sailor for sexual assault
According to letelegramme.fr, sailor Kevin Escoffier from Saint-Malo is appearing on Monday 9 November 2026 before the Lorient criminal court for sexual assault. Four women have joined the proceedings as civil parties to report incidents spanning between 2017 and 2023.
A first hearing, scheduled for 30 March 2026, had been postponed at the request of the prosecutor. The sailor's defence, provided by Ms Virginie Le Roy, had submitted her submissions on nullity — 152 documents representing 70 pages — on Friday 27 March, three days before the hearing. The lawyers for the complainants had contested this timing, claiming to have been "scandalized" by the tardiness of the documents.
The first complaint concerned incidents dating from 15 May 2023. Escoffier was then in Newport, United States, for a stage of the Ocean Race, a crewed round-the-world tour. His press officer, aged 30, accused him of inappropriate conduct. She filed a complaint in December 2023, and a preliminary investigation was opened in July 2023.
The other complainants report assaults that occurred at different times and places. One denounces incidents that allegedly took place between late December 2017 and early January 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. A third reports an assault committed in a bar in Lorient in April 2018. The fourth assault allegedly occurred in Brazil, a few days after the one in Lorient.
Kevin Escoffier was placed in police custody in February 2025. He has consistently disputed all the accusations against him.
The association NousToutes Lorient 56, active in the fight against gender-based violence, announced that its activists would be present from 8:30 a.m. outside the court on Monday 9 November, in support of the four complainants. The collective declared that it wants to "support all victims, those who speak out and those who do not", and hopes that the trial will mark "a turning point" concerning violence in the offshore racing and sailing world.
The collective called on sailing figures to mobilise to "make this world a healthier environment for everyone".
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)