In May 2015, the revelation of a case of sexual assault within the Catholic Church shook the diocese of Le Mans.
A former priest of the parishes of Mamers and Bonnétable, in Sarthe, is accused by several boys of having sexually assaulted them, between 1990 and 2003. Since Monday, the priest Max de Guibert, 59, has been tried for sexual assault. out of nine boys
under the age of fifteen per person in authority
», Before the criminal court.
The facts denounced by the plaintiffs took place during scout camps, in the parish presbytery, where the priest officiated.
The complainants evoke showers with water jets or baths in rivers, moments during which they were touched.
The priest is also accused by young boys, now adults, of having had gestures of a sexual nature, during school support.
To read also: The ex-priest Preynat, convicted of pedophile assaults, renounces to appeal
The case came to light in May 2015, when a family from Sarthe publicly denounced sexual assaults committed by the priest Max de Guibert on one of their children.
The parish priest is indicted and placed in pre-trial detention for a year, before being released and placed under judicial supervision.
Before being imprisoned, the abbot was appointed in 2014 priest of the parishes of Parigné-l'Évêque and Grand-Lucé, in the south-east of Sarthe.
That same year, in September, the daily
Ouest-France
painted a portrait of this priest, not yet publicly questioned: “
For years, my mission has been to integrate disabled children and adolescents into the world of able-bodied people.
How? 'Or' What ?
Through summer camps organized by the Jean de Bosco association, which brings together all these young people around the same value: respect.
But in 2015, following the first accusations of sexual assault, the priest was suspended by the bishop of Mans, Mgr Yves Le Saux.
Suspicions from 1994
In 1994, parents from the town of Mamers, in the Sarthe region, alerted the Bishop of Le Mans at the time, Mgr Georges Gilson, to Max de Guibert's attitude.
They denounce sexual abuse on their child.
No complaint is lodged, but the bishopric, immediately informed, transfers the priest to the parish of Bonnétable, about twenty kilometers from the first parish.
He is now prohibited from coming into contact with young people.
In 1995, the behavior of the priest was reported in Rome.
In 2009, the expert psychologist of the Church found no pedophile tendency in the priest, but observed that he had “
an infantile sexuality.
"After the parish of Bonnétable, Max de Guibert was transferred in 2006 to the chaplaincy of the Le Mans hospital center, due to new reports of his abnormal behavior.
"
Marked
"
complainants
Father Max de Guibert's actions would not have been without consequences.
According to the lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, 10 years old and living in Mamers at the time of the facts, the memories of this time are still painful.
Contacted by Le
Figaro
, the plaintiff's lawyer, in his thirties, denounces acts of sexual assault during scout camps.
“
He took it aside, during the common showers, to wash it and caress it for a long time in very specific places.
Likewise, in the context of tutoring, when the priest felt that he was not standing correctly, it was a spanking with his pants down,
”explains Me Bertrand Deniaud, lawyer for the plaintiff.
His trauma would have impacted his life as an adult and as a father: "
He cannot stand that his child is in contact with an adult, he no longer trusts anyone",
specifies his lawyer.
Tuesday, December 8, during the second day of the trial, one of the psychiatric expertises considered that Father Max de Guibert has a profile of "
perverted pedophile
".
Read also: Preynat case: Cardinal Barbarin released on appeal
Another complainant asserts that the assaults also took place in schoolyards.
His lawyer Camille Van Robais pleads for this forty-year-old man, marked for life.
He accuses the priest of having attacked him in 1993, at the age of 14, while he was attending a boarding school.
Bad student, Father Max de Guibert, chaplain, gave him tutoring lessons: “
From the second lesson, the exercises were not done, he asked him to go up to his boarding school room with him.
Then the priest demanded that he undress completely.
He watched the teen stand up and then ordered him to lie down on his bed.
Guibert's father then slapped him on the buttocks and lectured him, ”
explains Me Camille Van Robais.
These long minutes "
were enough to destroy a man,
" adds the lawyer.
During the two days of hearings, the other complainants testified to similar facts: undressing during abuse, touching during showers ...
Civil party lawyers deplore a "
complete denial
" of the accused.
Father Max de Guibert, defended by Me Stefan Squillaci, has been denying sexual assault since the start of the investigation in June 2015. His lawyer, former partner of Eric Dupond-Moretti, assures us that his client is “
innocent.”
"
I will defend him to hell,
" he says.
He denounces a titanic accusation file of "
14,000 ratings
" (which indicates the number of pages.) Similarly, Me Stefan Squillaci denounces the number of witnesses heard by the gendarmerie:
"2000 witnesses, that's a trick crazy.
"He asks for a total release for his client," these
are prescribed acts of violence.
The priest recognizes "
educational blunders
", "
inappropriate acts
", but refutes any sexual connotation of his acts.
The Church in the face of sexual abuse
From the 1990s to the 2000s, the successive bishops of Le Mans did not alert the justice system, although they had repeatedly received reports from families, from different parishes of Sarthe.
The failings of the Church are pointed out by the civil parties.
The priest never complied with the injunctions of the Bishopric.
He continued to run youth camps almost every summer, from 1999 to 2012. Monday, December 7, on
French-speaking Christian Radio
, the spokesperson for the diocese of Le Mans, Father Paul-Antoine Drouin, expressed his support for victims.
“
The bishop trusts justice and wants the truth about this matter.
These are abject acts.
There is a real desire for transparency on the part of the diocese.
In the name of the Gospel, we owe this truth ”,
declared the priest Paul-Antoine Drouin.
Tuesday evening, the public prosecutor of Le Mans required four years of imprisonment for the clergyman, as well as socio-judicial monitoring with obligation of care for ten years.
The judgment is reserved until mid-January.
