Champagne, cocaine and pretty girls.
A devilishly addictive cocktail that Thierno (the first names of the defendant and the two victims have been changed) drank for a long time before he was accused of two rapes, one committed on a minor teenager, the other on a young woman under the influence of narcotics.
The acts would have been committed in 2014 and 2017. "Flirty, talkative and manipulative" for some, "charismatic and charming" for others, this Senegalese thirty-something then navigates with ease in the Parisian evenings, going from a trendy establishment to the other, from Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the Champs-Elysées district, its home port.
A real celebrity in the microcosm of the night this Thierno.
But what does he do during the day?
On his business cards, the young man, a model in his spare time, presents himself at the time as a consultant in digital strategy, specialist in social networks.
The police know him for a small cocaine detention case.
At the end of July 2017, Paris is starting to ring hollow.
Dressed to the nines as always, Thierno begins his evening with a stop in Montana, a very select club on the left bank, before moving on to Matignon, a haunt of wealthy revelers.
The night owl then lands at Titty Twister, a nightclub close to the Champs-Elysées.
This is where he crosses paths with Lisa.
She is 24 years old.
They have known each other for several years, appreciate each other but say they have never flirted with each other.
A business school student, she also regularly attends Parisian nights.
A trace of semen found on the body
Thierno and Lisa drink vodka without worrying about the bill, paid for by a friend.
The day will soon rise and no one wants to go to bed.
With a common knowledge, they put in gear around 6 am at No Comment, a night bar in the rue de Ponthieu.
Their festive journey could have ended there.
But no.
Thierno knows people everywhere.
He is offered an "after" in a beautiful apartment in the 7th arrondissement, next to the Eiffel Tower.
“Champagne and cocaine” atmosphere at breakfast time.
He takes Lisa with him.
In the taxi, do the two young people clearly tipsy end up kissing?
He says yes.
She strongly contests.
Arrived there, Lisa notices that she does not know anyone outside Thierno.
Unlike the other guests, she has not used drugs and ends up falling from fatigue.
The hostess then drives her to her daughter's room.
Lisa falls asleep immediately.
Before being awakened with a start a few minutes later.
At this moment, she said to have felt a sharp pain in the lower abdomen then noted that Thierno slipped into the bed and began to penetrate her by removing her body and her panties.
The other guests then find Lisa in tears, prostrate in the bathroom.
Thierno defends himself and leaves the scene quickly.
The young woman lodged a complaint the same day for rape and then constantly maintains her version of the facts, accredited by several testimonies collected by investigators from the 3rd district of the judicial police and by two material elements.
A trace of semen belonging to the young man was found on his body.
In addition, the victim was infected with a sexually transmitted disease that her attacker was carrying.
In his defense, Thierno puts forward the hypothesis of a furtive act, agreed to but immediately regretted by the young woman.
The indicted speaks of consensual relationships
In the following weeks, Lisa, rather than breaking down, is determined.
She is trying to find out if other young night owls could have undergone experiences similar to hers by rubbing shoulders with the Senegalese dandy.
This is how she hears about Elsa.
She too was allegedly the victim of a rape committed in August 2014 by the handsome Thierno.
Lisa transmits this information to the police officers who decide to interview this other possible victim at the end of October 2017. Upstream, the two young women did not have the opportunity to discuss.
Yet Elsa delivers a story similar in many ways to the scenario described by Lisa: a drunken evening in a nightclub followed by an "after" in an apartment, her falling asleep in a bed interrupted by a rape of several minutes that she suffers. "Without reaction", "paralyzed", "in a state of shock", back to his attacker.
She was only 17 at the time and preferred to bury this memory, for fear, it seems, of having to tell her parents.
The respondent recognizes the existence of a sexual relationship but claims that the young girl was consenting and even very enterprising.
Two radically opposed versions, therefore.
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The Paris public prosecutor's office recommended that the case be referred to a criminal court.
But the victims opposed it, preferring a judgment before the Assize Court.
"The practice of correctionalization, frequent in matters of rape, is often offered to victims on the grounds that the procedure would be less cumbersome, less long or less difficult for them," explains Pauline Rongier, Elsa and Lisa's lawyer.
But for my clients, that would have meant minimizing the facts of which they were victims.
However, the seriousness of these justifies that their author responds to a popular jury.
"
For its part, Thierno's defense appealed against the order of indictment, the last step before his final dismissal to the assizes.
"We noted certain inconsistencies in the accounts of the plaintiffs which are likely to create doubt on the fact that the relations were not consented", points out Me Karim Laouafi, lawyer of Thierno.
This appeal must be examined on October 6 by the investigation chamber.
