Geneva: the investigation into the rape of a minor will be reopened

“I trusted this business, I lost my daughter.” Elena* does not take off. Therefore, Four years ago. Consequently, her child then minor denounced that she had been raped, during a fair in Geneva, by a twenty -year -old colleague his elder, who claims his innocence. Therefore, In the absence of evidence and in the face of divergent testimonies, the case was classified. However. Therefore, it could take a new turning point: regretting shortcomings in the procedure, the justice requests the reopening of the investigation.

The facts occurred in geneva: investigation rape minor will April 2022. In addition, Léa*, 16, has been working for less than a year in a small French -speaking company. Furthermore, His colleagues and they are in Geneva to participate in a fair in Palexpo. Moreover, In the evening, the group takes the intern to the restaurant and then in a nightclub, where it consumes alcohol. Nevertheless,

Everyone in the same bed

The team returns to the hotel. Furthermore, ends the evening in a room where several colleagues fall asleep in the same bed, including Léa. Moreover, By his side, a colleague aged 36 at the time touched her and then entered it. The minor describes herself in a state of amazement: “completely embarrassed”. she “does not know what to do”, she will tell the investigators, for fear of waking up her colleagues, all major.

The next day, she promises her colleague to say nothing, but tells her boyfriend about it. No longer seeing her out of her room, her mother worried. “She spent days vomiting everything she ate,” says Elena, who files a complaint despite “the reluctance of management”. The colleague questioned, he speaks of a report granted and denies as a whole accusations.

The public prosecutor, after hearing the various protagonists, finally makes a classification order. He also refuses to audition the witnesses proposed by the victim, in particular his psychologist and another colleague.

No constraint

For the prosecution, there was no violbecause there was no constraint. Indeed. the old law under which this case took place (before July 2024) did not take into account the state of amazement of the victim.

The public prosecutor also retains that the version of the complainant has changed:. she only spoke of violence during her second hearing. For his lawyer, M^e Robert Assaël, it is on the contrary an element of credibility. “It happens frequently that because of the trauma, the victim cannot say everything all at once.”

In the absence of witnesses. faced with contradictory versions, the public prosecutor also believes that the two protagonists had no hierarchical relationship. The victim was not “extremely drunk” to the point of not being able to react. despite the three glasses of white wine, Spritz and Limoncello that she has bus. Without objective elements on the file, there was therefore no rape or sexual constraint, estimates the Geneva prosecution.

Today, Léa’s family is fighting so that there is a trial and has seized geneva: investigation rape minor will the criminal chamber of appeal. “It is obvious that there was a form of hierarchical ancestry between the defendant. aged 36, being in the company for ten years, with responsibilities, and a 16 -year -old trainee, who was less than a year old,”^e Assaël. Who specifies that if the victim had been consenting. she would have asked the author to put a condom, which was not the case. “Nor would she have had an intimate relationship in a bed where three other people were sleeping.”

Incomplete information

The room has decided. On most points, she proves the complainant wrong. She too believes that there was no constraint, psychological pressure, clear refusal, nor excessive intoxication. But she accepts the appeal on an element: she judges that the investigation “seems unfinished. incomplete” on the hierarchical links between the girl and her colleague.

Indeed. the prosecution did not have access to the company’s organization chart, nor did not establish the role of each during the fair. The information on the personality of the minor is also missing. It cannot be excluded that the victim has consented in a “non -free” manner to sex. The judges therefore ask for the hearing of the director and former internship in the girl.

Contacted. the employee’s lawyers implicated, Me Marie Besse and Miriam Mazou, specify this decision: “Our client has never stopped proclaiming his innocence and was released from all expenses by the public prosecutor. Rightly, the appeal of the complainant against this classification decision was very widely rejected. The Criminal House of appeal only estimated that the investigation should be completed. on one – alone – point before a new decision was rendered. “

The mother of the victim and her sister believe that the case destroyed Léa’s life. “We have to help him on a daily basis. She is now in disability insurance. She can no longer go out alone because of her anxieties. ” For m^e Assaël, “This decision represents a great relief for my client, who still suffers from post-traumatic stress. It’s a stage victory. “

* Fictive first name

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