“I place my hand on the diseased place. » On the first day of his trial before the Puy-de-Dôme Assize Court, Michel Boudon, tried for rape and sexual assault, was questioned at length about the facts with which he is accused: fellatio and masturbation imposed on certain of his patients. It was to “unblock the nerves”, the “peasant-healer” justified himself.
“Did you study medicine? », wonders President Diane Amacker. “No, it came on its own,” replies the 72-year-old accused, light sweater, glasses, white hair, specifying that he discovered his “gift” thirty years ago.
The man had acquired a certain notoriety beyond his village of Saint-Jean-des-Ollières after being the subject of several television reports, a short film and a biography.
Blowjobs because “the prayers didn’t work”
“Did you also massage their genitals? », continues the president. “Yes,” he admits. ” And women ? » she asks again. “They don’t have the same reception as men, it’s more at the thorax level,” he says. And to continue: The blowjobs, “I had the idea because the prayers did not work, I thought I was doing the right thing, I should not have, I admit it”.
“You think you’re credible when you say that?” », then questions General Counsel Fabienne Cancelier. “These are things that we don’t talk about in the countryside, if I had known that it was forbidden, I wouldn’t have done it,” replies the person concerned, adding that he acted “out of obligation” without taking any pleasure to these acts.
The events took place in a small kitchen of a few square meters where the consultations were held, in an isolated farm located in a wooded area where the septuagenarian lived who has never had a romantic relationship.
The “state of weakness” of the victims
“I was paralyzed, stunned, I couldn’t move,” says a 25-year-old who came to consult him after a serious road accident. That day, Michel Boudon asked him to take off his pants and lower his underwear under the pretext of “working on his groin”, before performing oral sex on him. “He told me it was to relax me because I was tense,” he says.
“He considers that he is acting to do good even if he knows that the facts are reprehensible,” underlines one of the investigators questioned on this subject. The victims did not react “because they are surprised”, “stunned” and “don’t know how to react, they have difficulty understanding”, he adds, referring to the “state of weakness” of these patients who came to consult for a disability, pain, low morale, one of them suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
The three rape victims have in common their vulnerability linked to their state of physical or mental health, or to their age. “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,” previously underlined Me Maud Vian, lawyer for two of them.
Michel Boudon faces twenty years in prison. The verdict is expected Friday.