A 37-year-old man, a teacher in a private college in Annecy, is sent back to the Haute-Savoie Assize Court for raping a minor under the age of 15 for having had an affair with a student, a-t- we learned from the Annecy prosecutor’s office.
The indictment, which follows the requisitions of the prosecution, was issued on October 10 by an investigating judge, indicated the public prosecutor of Annecy, confirming information revealed by the weekly Savoyard Rise Thursday.
This literature, Latin and Greek teacher is accused of having had sex with a schoolgirl between July 1 and September 6, 2021, when he was 36 years old and the victim was 14 years old. According to a source familiar with the matter, they would have had “high intellectual content” exchanges by email for several months from the confinement at the end of 2020, before their relationship evolved into a “romantic relationship” .
“A relationship that could give the impression of consent”
Their hearings drew “a relationship which could give the impression of consent”, indicates the prosecutor of Annecy, Line Bonnet, but this is “considered as necessarily flawed” within the framework of the law of April 21, 2021 aimed at protecting minors from sexual crimes and offenses and incest, passed a few months before this affair.
“Under the influence of this new law, there is rape when the minor is under 15 and there is an age difference of more than 10 years. The question of consent no longer arises. There is a presumption of non-consent, ”explains the Annecy magistrate.
After discovering their daughter’s exchanges with the teacher, the parents filed a complaint in September 2021, which led to the opening of a judicial investigation. Incarcerated at the start of the investigation, the accused – who acknowledges the facts – has since been released under judicial supervision.
A sentence of twenty years in prison
“It was suspended in September 2021 by the rectorate, which is always the measure that is taken in such cases without prejudging the elements of fault or not”, specifies Marc Héritier, diocesan director of Catholic education in Haute-Savoie. , recalling that he is “a teacher under public law, so his employer is National Education”.
The management of the establishment where he was stationed, the private Catholic high school Saint-Michel, did not wish to comment because of the ongoing legal proceedings.
The date of the trial, which will be held behind closed doors, has not yet been set. The penalty for rape of a minor under 15 is 20 years’ imprisonment.