Priest accused of rape in the Oise: prosecuted for "slanderous denunciation", the alleged victim released

Was it a “brief love affair”, as the priest and the Church assert, or a rape, as Sophie describes it

?

The investigation is still ongoing.

But this Thursday, already, the court of Beauvais (Oise) released the alleged victim who was attacked by the ex-priest of the parish of Breteuil.

The latter was suing her for "slanderous denunciation".

The priest is also ordered to pay € 1,500 in compensation for his moral damage.

To read also "It is a shame for the Church": how the diocese of Oise wants to fight against sexual abuse

In May 2019, this Breteuil resident had filed a rape complaint against the religious who then officiated in her parish.

He has since tendered his resignation to the Bishop of Beauvais.

In her complaint, Sophie notably denounced "the psychological hold" that this "spiritual figure" would have exercised over her.

At the hearing on September 9, the priest's lawyer, Me Nelly Nyia Engon, recalled that his client had “lost everything”.

"He had to leave his parish, his home ... If the cases of rape destroy the victims, it is also the case for the person who is accused of it fraudulently," she insisted.

A year later, the priest would still not have been heard

For her part, Sophie's lawyer, who had been summoned directly to appear by Me Nyia Engon and not prosecuted, had asked for the release.

By recalling that "the complaint lodged by [his] client is still the subject of an investigation by the gendarmerie".

Because more than a year after the complaint of the inhabitant of Breteuil, the priest has to date, according to the Church, still not been heard by the investigators in this case of alleged rape.

A situation which irritates to the highest point within the diocese of Oise where one calls not to protect the guilty while protecting the reputation of the people.