At the Assize Court,
Black suit and white shirt, the accused advances towards the bar and declines his identity and his profession. “Artist, Madam”, he replies this Monday morning. The president of the Paris Assize Court, Frédérique Aline, continues with questions about her career as a singer. “Nobody knows your life”, explains the magistrate to this 37-year-old man, thin beard, well-combed hair. Saad Lamjarred is however a pop star adored in his country, Morocco, and famous throughout the Arab world. His songs are breaking audience records on YouTube. His song lmaallem, released in 2015, even exceeded one billion views on the platform. He then tells how he met with success after his participation, in 2007, in a telecrochet in Lebanon, then evokes his need to “transmit important messages”, assures having “great respect for women”.
Saad Lamjarred adds that, since being accused of rape by a 27-year-old young woman, he has been living “a big depression”. Sitting on a bench on the other side of the small room, the civil party, Laura P., has trouble containing her emotion while listening to her. Blue eyes red with emotion, the young woman with long brown hair shakes her mother’s hand when the president recalls the events that took place on October 26, 2016.
Money for his silence
That Wednesday, she went out with friends to the Matignon, a nightclub located close to the Champs-Elysées. Aged 20 at the time, she met the singer, who was to perform at the Palais des Congrès. After getting on well, he invites her to an “after party” organized in a hotel room occupied by a couple of his friends, at the Intercontinental. The opportunity for Saad Lamjarred to continue drinking and using cocaine.
He finally suggests that he end the night in his room at the Marriott hotel. She accepts and accompanies him. There, they drink champagne, dance, and kiss. It is at this precise moment that their versions diverge. According to Laura P., the artist is more enterprising. She asks him to stop but he doesn’t listen. He grabs her by the hair, lies down on her, unbuttons her pants and licks her body. As the young woman struggles, he punches her in the face. Also according to her testimony, Saad Lamjarred briefly penetrates her with his penis while she tries to push him away by biting and scratching him. She manages to escape him and take refuge in the bathroom. She threatens to file a complaint. He offers her 150 euros and a bracelet in exchange for her silence. She refuses.
“No proof”
According to Laura P.’s account, after asking room service for ice to apply to the young woman’s swollen face, Saad Lamjarred knocks her down on the bed and assaults her again. She managed to run away screaming in the hallway of the hotel, then was picked up by employees of the establishment who described her as “crying”, “terrified”. The T-shirt torn, she tells them that she was beaten, kidnapped and raped by the occupant of room 714. The latter pursues her and seems, still according to them, “very angry and threatening”, “a little drunk”. He begs them not to call the police, adding that he was going to apologize to Laura P.. Then, with an arrogant look and a small smile, he throws “no proof” at them.
For his part, the singer, followed by 14 million subscribers on Instagram, maintains that he only defended himself by grabbing her face and pushing her, by “reflex”. To the investigators, he tells that the young woman suddenly attacked him while they were kissing, for no reason. He tells them that he has not had an intimate relationship with her (“no penetration, no sex”) and says he is incapable of hitting a woman. He would have chased her down the hall only to avoid the “scandal” because he was known.
Far from convincing the examining magistrate with his explanations, Saad Lamjarred is indicted and imprisoned in stride. He was released on an electronic bracelet in 2017, before being briefly detained again in 2018 after being indicted for the rape of another young woman in Saint-Tropez, in the Var.
Involved in other cases
Because this is not the first time that the singer has had trouble with the law because of his behavior with women. During the investigation, he was indicted for another case, attached to the file. He was accused of raping and beating a young Franco-Moroccan girl in Casablanca in 2015 in similar circumstances. The complainant then withdrew from the proceedings, citing heavy family pressures, and the judge ordered a dismissal of this part. The artist was also implicated for rape in the United States in 2010, also in similar circumstances. The proceedings were finally dropped after a settlement with the victim, the amount of which was not disclosed.
The expert who carried out the psychiatric examination of the star during the investigation describes a man with “immature” behavior and describes his sexuality as “overflowing”. He points to his “oversized ego which limits his tolerance for frustration”, his “lack of limit”, and underlines his difficulties “to question himself”. His trial is scheduled until Friday. Saad Lamjarred faces twenty years in prison.