The equestrian world grits its teeth.
In recent weeks, the racing world has been on the radar of investigators.
At issue: one of the greatest galloping stars.
Three times Golden Riding, the jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot, only 28, won the Arc de Triomphe prize in 2019. But this dazzling journey is tarnished by two complaints against the young man, revealed the magazine
L 'Obs
.
Information confirmed in
Figaro
by the public prosecutor of Senlis.
To discover
"A little voice told me to go": who are the voluntary disappearances and why do they choose to evaporate in nature?
Read also: French sport facing the scandal of sexual violence
An investigation was opened not only for "rape", but also for "threats on a victim": some people from the equestrian world have tried to dissuade the second complainant from filing a complaint.
It is therefore a “
delicate
” and “
complex
” case for investigators, due not only to the “
strong interweaving between the professional and personal life
” of the victim, but also, according to the prosecutor, to the “
power of influence. which appears to be loaned to the accused person
”.
A first complaint in 2018
The news hit the riders like a bomb.
Last February, a rape complaint against the big favorite of the races was filed.
The Grasse prosecutor is initially seized of the case, but the file is then sent to the Senlis prosecutor.
According to the prosecution, the facts would have taken place in the south of France, in Cagnes-sur-Mer, during an evening.
A case that resonates strongly with a similar complaint against the jockey, filed in 2018 for facts dating back to 2015. A judicial investigation had been opened, but faced with the absence of evidence and the significant time gap between the moment of the facts and the date of the filing of the complaint, Pierre-Charles Boudot had only been heard as an assisted witness.
"
The examining magistrate considered that there were not enough elements sufficient to
indict him
in this case
", explains to
Figaro
the public prosecutor of Senlis Jean-Baptiste Bladier.
Read also: Sexual violence: French sport must be intractable
But this second complaint could bring back to the front of the stage what claims to have suffered Sarah *, now 6 years ago, one evening in August in Deauville.
“
We met at a party, in a club.
One of his friends offered me a glass of champagne and after drinking it I felt bad.
I remember him pinning me against a wall, scared to be alone with him, pushing him away and asking him to stop.
I knew he had a certain reputation with girls.
Then I woke up in his car, his hand in my panties.
I saw what was going on, but I felt like I was a spectator, of being outside of my body.
Then he took me to his home.
I remember seeing myself in the elevator mirror, undressed, and I heard a voice screaming deep inside me 'get out', help me '.
But none of this happened,
”says the young girl to
Le Figaro
.
When she decides to file a complaint, three years after the facts, it is impossible to find a trace of DNA.
“
Initially, she did not want to file a complaint.
She thought that she would manage to forget and that nobody would believe her
, explains the lawyer of the young girl, Me Alexandre Varaut.
So Sarah takes 10 kilos, has a series of insomnia and cries constantly.
His father, a trainer, sometimes makes Pierre-Charles Boudot run, at the jockey's request.
Three years later, Sarah explodes and tells her mother everything, before deciding to file a complaint.
A psychological expert report carried out within the framework of this investigation shows that Sarah presents "
a syndrome of post-traumatic stress well beyond the norm
", reports her lawyer, for whom the main problem of this case lies in the "
pressures exerted by a man who is financially linked to a lot of people in the middle
”.
"Power of influence"
"
We were not surprised when a second complaint was filed, we always said that there were several cases
", comments Me Varaut.
“
We are convinced of this because, the evening when Pierre-Charles Boudot meets my client, he or one of his friends already has the product that will allow my client to drug.
If he has it in his wallet, it is because he has already used it,
"said the magistrate, stressing that there are"
many similarities
"between the two files:"
they are two young people. women who work in the world of racing, who are not in competition with Pierre-Charles Boudot and who have been assaulted during a horse show.
The only difference is that my client was drugged with a veterinary product that is widely used for horses,
”he says.
Faced with this second questioning, Pierre-Charles Boudot assured last March on Twitter that he was “
not surprised
” and that he had been “
threatened by the family of the complainant
”.
“
Those who testified for me were harassed.
Others pushed for a new complaint to be brought against me.
I have absolutely nothing to reproach myself with,
”he declared.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, his lawyer Me Florence Gaudillière declares "
not to be aware of this second complaint
" and to have "
no information
".
On the other hand, as regards the first complaint, Me Gaudillière considers that the file presents "
a disturbing chronology
" and is astonished that the victim "
remained so long without saying anything to his family
".
“
There is no evidence.
The psychological expertise is very unfavorable to her because the psychologist indicates that she finds it surprising to note that the young girl is very well documented on what represents a post-traumatic syndrome.
In addition, it is always her who reminds my client by message, whether it is to wish him his birthday or ask him to lend him a saddle.
For me, it is simply that this young girl dreamed of being with Pierre-Charles Boudot, she believed that it was for life while it was for one evening
", continues the lawyer, denouncing a"
media rush oversized
”and confirming that his client has been the target of threats.
The second complainant also assured to have been the target of pressure exerted by certain people supporting Pierre-Charles Boudot.
"
The victim has expressed in a punctual and not very durable way the will not to maintain his complaint, before reaffirming his maintenance of complaint and to come back to the fact that she had considered withdrawing it
", indicates to
Figaro
the prosecutor, confirming that pressure was exerted on the young girl so that she withdraws her complaint and that an important "
power of influence
" is attributed to Pierre-Charles Boudot.
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, the organizing company of national races France Galop replied that "
the horse racing industry condemns and has always firmly condemned all types of violence
" and that, "
in the present case, legal proceedings are in progress and there is it is not up to us to comment on it
”.
Sarah hopes for her part that this second complaint will give "
a new dimension
" to hers and that "
other people will speak
", although this "
gives a terrible image of the equestrian world
".
In 2019, another great figure in the world of horsemanship had already been accused of rape: the owner of horses José Bruneau de la Salle had been indicted for sexual assault on a minor under 15, revealed
Le Parisien
.
The victim, the son of the famous jockey Christophe Pieux, denounced the touching that lasted until 2009, when he was 13 years old.
A second complainant subsequently accused José Bruneau de la Salle of the same acts when he was also a minor.
After these two scandals, the stable manager, then 73 years old, had resigned from his mandates as member of the committee of the company organizing races France Galop and as managing director of the Maisons-Laffitte racecourse.
* The first name has been changed