For years, he treated hundreds of people, going so far as to achieve a certain fame thanks to television reports and a short film. Michel Boudon, “peasant healer” will be tried from this Wednesday at the assizes in Riom (Puy-de-Dôme), where he will appear for three rapes and nine sexual assaults committed on several of his patients.
Aged 72, the accused was denounced in 2020 by a young man who came to relieve his pain after a serious road accident. But during the consultation, the farmer “imposed fellatio” on him, under the guise of therapeutic practice “like most of the other victims, citing the need to manipulate the lower area of the pelvis, and thus intended to treat the warts, back pain, etc. », Explains his lawyer Pierre-Emmanuel Girard.
Bone-setter, magnetizer and ox trainer
Following letters rogatory, investigators will hear from other victims, men whose complaints had previously been dismissed. The farmer, described in a book as a “mountain dweller, ox trainer and healer” and who claims to have discovered his “gift” at the age of 42, is then placed under judicial control with a ban on carrying out any activity as a magnetizer or bone-setter. Which does not prevent him from continuing his consultations on the farm inherited from his parents in Saint-Jean-des-Ollières and from repeating sexual acts, as revealed by other patients who made themselves known to the services in 2021. from police.
Coming to consult for leg pain, eczema, intestinal problems, all report their “stunnedness” and their “surprise” at the person they accuse. And say they were unable to react. “When you take this step, there is an element of confidence, a letting go. But in the collective consciousness, the approach is complicated: they are men, adults, and they did not react,” underlines Me Maud Vian, lawyer for two other victims.
Blowjobs to “calm the nerves”
During his various hearings, the accused admitted the facts, ensuring that this practice was aimed at “calming the nerves” or “unblocking”. The septuagenarian, who says he has never had a romantic relationship, has always lived with his parents and his maternal grandmother, finding himself alone on the family farm after their death.
“The trial will distinguish between the good he brought to hundreds or even thousands of people, and the harm he did, according to other people, who were treated without perversion on his part,” comments his lawyer Me Patrick Roesch, who did not wish to speak further.
“Despite everything, he still benefits from a certain aura, is reinforced in his “art of healing” with a short film, books and laudatory comments on the Internet while my client still has difficulty rebuilding himself and the trial will be an ordeal for him,” laments Pierre-Emmanuel Girard in response. The lawyer is convinced that the list of victims could grow longer and that “some have not spoken out of a feeling of shame” while Maud Vian also assures that her clients “are very embarrassed as the trial approaches, as the trial approaches. idea to talk about it. »
Michel Boudon faces twenty years of criminal imprisonment. The verdict is expected Friday.