(Paris) A 29-year-old French man went on trial on Tuesday accused of
raping a 11 year old girl whom he met in a Paris Park. The man then took her to a stairwell and asked her to
perform oral sex. After receiving this, he suggested, reportedly without
exerting any physical constraint, that they both go to his apartment. The girl
allegedly followed the man again and they engaged in a sexual act. After
getting dressed, the man asked the girl not to tell anyone about the incident.
But as soon as she left his apartment, she informed her mother, who immediately
went to the police. However there was anger when the prosecutor's office in the
town of Pontoise, a north-western Parisian suburb, put the father of two on
trial for charges of "sexual abuse of a minor under 15," rather than for
rape. While the girl's family filed a complaint for rape, the public
prosecutor's office decided that that there was no evidence to suggest that the
sexual relationship had been obtained by "threat, violence, surprise or
coercion."
On Tuesday, the judge concluded that the prosecutor had chosen the wrong charge, and ordered a judicial inquiry. The trial has been postponed. Lawyers for the suspect argued that the girl had consented and was aware of what she was doing. Lawyers for the girl said she was far too young and confused to resist. Defence lawyer Marc Goudarzian:
"She was 11-years-and-10-months-old, so nearly 12-years-old. It changes the story, So she is not a child."
"We are not dealing with a sexual predator on a poor little faultless goose”.
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| Suspect: pictured centre, |
