The "
rapist of the Sénart forest
" is retried on appeal from Tuesday in Paris for a series of rapes or attempted rapes that he categorically denies.
On October 8, 2020, at the end of four weeks of a trying trial, the Assize Court of Evry had recognized Aïssa Zerouati, a father of 46 years apparently without history, guilty of most of the facts alleged against him. .
He had been sentenced to 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
To read also Robberies in the forest of Sénart: 20 years of imprisonment required against the accused
During his requisitions, Advocate General Marc Mulet had asked for 20 years in prison against the accused, insisting on the physical evidence accumulated by the investigators, in particular traces of semen and blood taken from half of his victims.
"
Faced with DNA, there is very little chance of getting out
", then underlined the magistrate.
The accused disputes the facts
Throughout the debates, Aïssa Zerouati had opposed the complainants to her impassiveness and proclaimed her innocence.
"
I am the victim of a miscarriage of justice,
" repeated the former bus driver.
The accused appealed against the judgment, as did the general prosecutor's office.
On the eve of her new trial, Aïssa Zerouati "
still disputes the facts
", told AFP her counsel, Me Gabriel Dumenil, who argues that "
DNA samples are very old
" and that the techniques used over the years 90 “
were very unreliable
”.
He also accuses investigators "
of having artificially hung up the facts
" by attributing about thirty victims to his client "
while his DNA has been found 16 times
".
Assaults from 1995 to 2000
The "
rapist of the Sénart forest
", as the press had nicknamed him at the time of the events, sowed fear from 1995 to 2000 by attacking joggers and walkers, some elderly or pregnant, sometimes under the threat of a weapon. Wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet that he never took off, he simulated a breakdown of his two-wheeler on little-used paths in the vast forest of Sénart, in Essonne, and threw himself on the women he had spotted when they passed it. Once these women were overpowered with his fists, he either demanded oral sex or masturbation from his victims or raped them.
At the end of a long and tortuous investigation which will have lasted nearly twenty years, Aïssa Zerouati was arrested and indicted at the end of 2015, confused by his DNA.
Due to a lack of evidence and evidence, the investigations were closed for the first time in 2005 and then reopened nearly ten years later.
A new genetic analysis technique then made it possible to identify Aïssa Zerouati's DNA.
The appeal trial is expected to last four weeks, with a verdict rendered on October 22.
