It is still dark night, this Saturday December 15, 2012 shortly before 6 am, in the district of Ménilmontant, in Paris (XXth).
Juliette's derbies are banging on the floor.
The 27-year-old student, who works in a 5-star hotel to finance her studies, hurries to go to bed, after a grueling service, bundled up in her down jacket.
As she enters the rue de la Mare, she feels a mass jump over her on her left.
“My first instinct is to think that it's a friend who is playing a joke on me.
But when I saw that it was a stranger, I mechanically protected my handbag, thinking that they wanted to tear it away from me, ”launches the young woman, waving in her chair. reliving that moment of fear.
She swallows and rubs her hands frantically on her thighs.
“He slipped his hands under my skirt.
It was then that I realized that it was not my bag that interested him.
"
“I have never shouted so loud.
I wanted someone to hear me ”
In a fraction of a second, Juliette finds herself on the ground.
She twists her legs to repel her attacker.
But it is quickly mastered, and tackled to the ground.
In great violence, the stranger rapes her with his fingers.
Juliette screams, calls for help.
“I have never shouted so loud.
I wanted someone to hear me.
But the aggressor puts his hand to his mouth and orders him to be silent.
“I understood that the more I struggled, the more violence would intensify.
I felt that I risked being beaten up or even dying ”.
So Juliette relaxes her whole body and lets it go.
The man begins to simulate the sexual act.
"He was whispering his excited rattle near my ear.
I felt his back and forth against my body.
»Juliette speaks to him, tries to make him release her embrace.
In vain.
Then she tells him that she has already been raped once.
“It was wrong.
I said the first thing that crossed my mind.
This time, the aggressor comes to a halt.
He gets up and apologizes.
Juliette asks him why he did that.
He replies that he "does not have a wife and does not make love".
“This story will mark us.
I will be unhappy and so will you, ”says Juliette, annoyed, before running away.
"The judicial police called me back to tell me that my file was reopened"
A little more than eight years after the facts, Abdellah O., a Moroccan now aged 35, was sent back on Tuesday to the Paris Assize Court.
He is accused of having raped Juliette and another young woman, and of having tried to rape two others, between May 2012 and June 2013, in the twentieth arrondissement of the capital - which he disputes.
These four cases, which were carried out according to an identical procedure, within a radius of one kilometer, took years to be reconciled.
Juliette's complaint, filed on the day of the events, will even be closed without action a year later, for lack of elements.
READ ALSO>
Complaints for rape: why so many classifications without follow-up
It is thanks to a Nokia phone, lost by the attacker while trying to control one of his victims, that the investigators of the 2nd DPJ (judicial police district) will trace him back: a DNA trace is notably found on cell phone battery, then compared to DNA taken from the victims' clothes.
In November 2017, a judicial investigation was opened.
In January 2018, the suspect was located in Zaragoza (Spain).
He was handed over to France in February 2019, and imprisoned.
“The judicial police called me back to tell me that my file was reopened.
It was explosive.
I couldn't breathe, I was on the ground, Juliette breathes.
Until the arrest, I was given news in small quantities.
I was in apnea.
"
Alcohol, drugs and disrupted sex life
The life of the young woman, now aged 35, is still greatly affected by her assault.
In particular, she developed an addiction to alcohol.
“Shortly after my rape, I started getting drunk on my own in bars.
Even if it means putting myself in danger, ”sighs Juliette.
She has a series of drinks in the evenings, or alone, at home.
“As soon as I was in pain, I drank.
I have often been remarked that I drink wine like water.
"
Newsletter The essential of 75
A tour of the news in Paris and in the IDF
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
But Juliette didn't just get dizzy from alcohol: she adopted an unbridled sex life.
“As soon as I met a man I liked, I slept with him.
While being completely spectator of the moment that we lived.
The young woman suffers from her celibacy.
“I am not confident, the desire of men scares me.
Because her attacker has apologized, Juliette is even wary of "nice people."
“I can't help but tell myself that everyone is capable of the worst,” she admits.
She still can't do without her cocktail of antidepressants and anxiolytics.
Since her rape, Juliette has become a homebody.
Walking alone in the street is a hardship for her.
“I look behind me all the time.
As soon as I hear a noise, I turn around.
When she has to wait for someone outside, she always positions herself in front of a wall.
So as not to leave any blind spot.
"I make sure everything that is behind my back is secure."
Too abrupt gestures, the sound of an object falling, or a hand resting on her shoulder… so many everyday banalities that terrorize the Parisian.
“I adopted a small dog in 2018. As soon as people approach me, she barks.
"
"#MeToo was a breath of fresh air for me"
Juliette is not the type to complain.
“I am not in the pathos.
I cry when I'm alone.
But what was complicated to deal with was having to keep quiet.
“Some people I spoke to about my assault told me after the fact that it was too heavy for them.
I froze the mood.
And made the observation that it was better to be silent, she laments.
We can talk about mourning, hospitalizations.
But rape is still taboo.
The #MeToo movement was a breath of fresh air for me.
I felt carried, it gave me strength.
Some of the newspapers devoted to it are also framed at home.
"
Me Pauline Rongier, Juliette's lawyer admits: “Too few cases of rape are referred to the assizes.
It is a chance for Juliette that this trial takes place, thanks in particular to the work of the police force and the magistrate.
It will be able to finish rebuilding itself.
" The verdict is expected Friday.