Rhône: fifteen years' imprisonment for former bodyguard convicted of rape by drug administration
A 39-year-old former security officer has been sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment by the Rhône criminal court for drugging and sexually assaulting his partner, offences which he had filmed.
Rhône: fifteen years' imprisonment for former bodyguard convicted of rape by drug administration
The Rhône criminal court imposed a sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment on Friday 12 June to a 39-year-old former protection officer. This conviction exceeds the public prosecutor's request by three years, which had sought twelve years' imprisonment combined with a decade of judicial monitoring and loss of civil rights.
The man was tried for having drugged his partner, a 40-year-old businesswoman, before committing repeated sexual assaults against her between 2015 and his arrest in 2023. He had recorded his actions on video and distributed stolen photographs of the victim naked.
The sequences shown during the trial revealed the accused carrying out touching and penetration of his partner, mother of his child, whilst she lay unconscious. Humiliating remarks accompanied these scenes. The prosecutor general had described the defendant as a "sexual predator" with "Machiavellian behaviour", describing a slide from "fantasised sexuality to consummated sexuality".
The victim's lawyer, Julia Studient, had denounced the treatment inflicted on her client: "dehumanised", "treated like an object", "like a toy". For his part, the defence counsel, Gabriel Versini-Bullara, had argued for a sentence "below the twelve years" requested, contending that his client "deserves a second chance, everyone deserves one".
The case also revealed online exchanges between the convicted man and Dominique Pelicot, himself tried for similar offences of chemical assault on his wife. In this correspondence, Pelicot positioned himself as an "experienced guru", offering advice to his interlocutor. The latter had responded to him: "I follow your guidance to the letter." He had even gone so far as to propose to Pelicot that he travel to Lyon to personally assault his partner.
Source: franceinfo
Source: France Info