For nearly thirty years, Olivier B., 56, has dispensed justice in the courts. But this Friday, this former magistrate – who has notably been a children’s judge – will not wear the black dress at the hearing which is being held at the Besançon judicial court. Prosecuted for having offered on the Internet to strangers to have sex with his 12-year-old daughter, he will be tried for “provocation not followed by effects” at the commission of acts of corruption of a minor, rape and assault sex on a minor. He faces seven years in prison.
The case started in October 2019, when a user of a libertine dating site reported a message posted by a man offering sex with his wife, but also with his 12-year-old daughter. The message was accompanied by photos of the teenager in a swimsuit. The manager of the site alerted the justice and the public prosecutor’s office of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) decided to open an investigation entrusted to the OCRVP (Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons), a service competent for cases of pedocrime in line.
The author of the messages, posted between October 2019 and May 2020, is located in Côte-d’Or. His profile is surprising to say the least: Olivier B. is a magistrate, vice-president of the Dijon court where he coordinates the family affairs division. His wife, the mother of his three children, exercises the same profession. The case is out of place in Besançon and a judicial investigation is opened in January 2020.
“An objective risk of acting out”
On June 4, the couple’s home and offices were searched and their computer equipment seized. The exploitation of his phones led to the discovery of dozens of child pornography photos. Heard by the investigators in police custody, the Dijon judge acknowledged the facts. He assured that his wife was not aware and assured to have been the sole author of the messages published on the libertine site.
But according to him, it was only a question of “fantasies that he would never have materialized”, had indicated the public prosecutor of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, during a press conference, specifying that “the investigation showed no passage to the act”. Olivier B. had indeed proposed appointments with his daughter to one of the sexual partners that he and his wife frequented regularly within the framework of swinger relationships. But they do not succeed due to confinement. For Etienne Manteaux, “there was an objective risk of acting out”.
Olivier B. is indicted on June 5, 2020 and placed under judicial control, with a ban on practicing any profession related to minors. He then returned to live with his wife and children. A situation that Sabrina Himeur, head of the legal department of La Voix de l’enfant, one of the five civil party associations, considers “problematic”. An ad hoc administrator – namely child welfare – has been appointed to represent the interests of the suspect’s daughter.
Already suspended from office, this magistrate with glowing evaluations, who had been practicing for 28 years, was dismissed last July by the disciplinary council of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, seized by the former Keeper of the Seals, Nicole Belloubet.
” Post-traumatic stress “
Two psychiatric expertises were carried out. One of them concluded with “an invasive sexual problem requiring care”, had detailed the public prosecutor of Besançon. The other went in the direction of the suspect, who claims to have been “deeply disturbed psychologically” by the Bodein affair. This serial killer, nicknamed “Pierrot le fou”, was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 for three murders, two rapes and two kidnappings.
During the first instance trial of Pierre Bodein, Olivier B. was general counsel. His lawyer, Me Pauline Neveu – that 20 minutes failed to join – explained during the hearing before the CSM that his client was a “sick” man, “destroyed by a horror file” and “haunted” by the image of a young victim of Pierrot le fou. Since then, she said, he has suffered from “post-traumatic stress”.
“Snub to justice”
His trial, which was to be held on January 12, was postponed until Friday. The magistrate was then excused at the hearing by his lawyer, Me Pauline Neveu, who presented a medical certificate attesting to a “very precarious state of health on the psychological level”, “incompatible with an appearance”.
The absence of the defendant did not fail to irritate the public prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, who said he was “scandalized that this man, who was a magistrate for more than 20 years, snubs his nose at justice” . “We made a new request for expertise because we were greatly surprised” by this absence, tells us Sabrina Himeur, of La Voix de l’enfant, who also regrets that Olivier B. is not judged for the possession of the images.