The Court of Cassation overturned the verdict rendered on appeal by the Hérault Assize Court, which sentenced an individual to twelve years in prison for rape, due to an error made in the drafting of the verdict.
A mistake with serious consequences. The Court of Cassation overturned last May the verdict rendered on appeal by the Hérault Assize Court which sentenced a septuagenarian to twelve years in prison for sexual assault and rape of a minor, learned Le Figaro confirming information from Free lunch . The cause ? The omission of two words by the president of the assize court when writing his verdict. The law indeed provides that the words “by a majority of at least eight votes” be given for each offence. However, in his verdict, the magistrate wrote “by a majority of eight votes”.
The date of the next trial not fixed
The defendant’s attorney, Mr.e David Chaigneau, was therefore able to seize the Court of Cassation on the grounds that the secrecy of the deliberation had not been respected. The High Jurisdiction therefore canceled the decision of the Hérault Assize Court, resulting in the release of the septuagenarian pending a new trial. The individual has been accused by several members of his family, since 2010, of sexual violence. Her granddaughter claimed that she had been touched by her grandfather when she was seven years old. The respondent’s two stepdaughters also accused him of multiple rapes and sexual assaults during their teenage years.
The accused, who denies the facts, was first indicted in 2013 and tried for the first time in 2019. Pending his trial, he was placed under judicial supervision. During this first procedure, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for the sexual violence committed on his stepdaughters but was acquitted of the touching of which his granddaughter accused him. He then appealed and remained free pending his appeal. The latter had also had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It finally took place in May 2022 in Montpellier and this time led to the conviction of the accused to twelve years in prison. The septuagenarian was then found guilty of assault and rape on the three complainants. It is this verdict which was annulled by the Court of Cassation.
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“I find it very unfair, I have the impression that it will never stop”, testified one of the plaintiffs, annoyed, with Free lunch. The lawyer for the civil parties, questioned by our colleagues, did not hide her anger either, regretting “the years of trampled procedures for two missing words”. The third trial should be held in Carcassonne (Aude). Its date, however, is “not fixed at this time”said counsel for the accused at Figaro.