Aurore lives in Quincy-sous-Sénart (Essonne), a few meters from the Sénart forest.
However, to run, this 34-year-old sports educator prefers asphalt to wooded paths.
“It would be much nicer to go to the forest, but I don't want to go running alone there at all,” assures this young mother.
And for good reason, for Aurore, this place remains irremediably associated with the affair of the "rapist of the Sénart forest", whose trial opens this Tuesday at the Assize Court of Essonne, in Evry-Courcouronnes.
Between 1995 and 2001, at least 49 rapes were committed on this site.
In the accused's box, Aïssa Z., a 45-year-old bus driver nicknamed Bonbon, is being prosecuted for 34 of these rapes and sexual assaults.
Arrested in 2015, he has always denied the facts.
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Multiple rapes in the forest of Sénart: a man in the seat
According to the various descriptions made by the victims, there could have been at that time several rapists raging in this forest where 3 million visits are recorded each year.
Some have described aggressors of the Mediterranean type.
Others had fair faces and blue eyes.
In early 2016, a man called the Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police of Versailles (Yvelines) to denounce himself and say that he was the rapist's accomplice.
There have never been more investigations.
"This possibility that one or more authors of the time still live in the area frightens", notes one of the victims.
"This story stuck in people's minds"
“At the time, when it became known, everyone was only talking about it, adds Aurore, who was around ten years old at the time.
I remember many of my mom's friends stopped going for a run on her own after that.
And since then, nothing has changed according to her.
"It's not at all secure, slice the thirty-something.
There is a lot of prostitution.
And people remembered what happened.
"
"This story of the rapist of the Sénart forest has remained in people's minds", abounds Roseline, a resident of Boussy-Saint-Antoine.
"With or without this case, I will not go for a walk alone," continues this 73-year-old retiree.
But that adds to the fear of meeting bad people.
"
Carine, too, never goes for a walk in the area without being accompanied.
“I remember this case,” recalls this 47-year-old mother.
Already, before this story, we only went in groups.
Now, this forty-something goes from time to time for bike rides in this forest.
"But I always take my husband," she warns.
We hear so many stories of rape… ”
"80% of people do not go beyond 500 m around their car"
Pola is more pragmatic.
“Unfortunately, this kind of thing can happen anywhere,” says this thirty-something, who recently settled in Boussy-Saint-Antoine.
Pola goes for a walk from time to time alone in the Sénart forest.
"I did not know this story of rapist but I think that would have prevented me from going there", she believes.
Despite everything, the forest remains for those who visit it a place where it is necessary to be careful.
According to a study by the National Forestry Office (ONF), "80% of people who come for a walk do not go beyond 500 m around their car or an inhabited area".
"We do not make the link with this news item," one explains to the ONF.
But overall, walkers need to feel safe.
There is still a certain apprehension of the forest, but fortunately we do not have attacks every day.
"
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As for the dark alleys, won over by vegetation, which can seem inhospitable?
The ONF replies: “It is part of our current mission of sustainable management to make the forest welcoming.
"
