The trial of Moroccan star singer Saad Lamjarred, accused of raping and beating a young woman in a hotel room in 2016 on the sidelines of a concert scheduled in Paris, opens Monday in the capital.
The 37-year-old pop star, adored in Morocco and famous throughout the Arab world, must appear before the Assize Court for five days.
The facts denounced by Laura P. date back to October 2016. Aged 20, she followed the singer and a couple of his friends to an “after party
”
, after meeting them in a nightclub.
At the end of an evening loaded with alcohol and cocaine, she accompanied Saad Lamjarred to his hotel on the Champs-Élysées.
Read alsoMoroccan singer Saad Lamjarred sent back to court for aggravated rape
There, they drank champagne, danced, kissed.
Then, according to her account to investigators, he became more enterprising and she slipped away.
He would then have grabbed her by the hair, before lying on her without her being able to push him away, unbuttoning his pants and licking his body.
As she struggled, he punched her, she told investigators.
He then allegedly briefly penetrated her with his cock as she pushed him away, biting and scratching him, before hitting her again.
Laura P. explained that she managed to escape him and told him that she would file a complaint: he then offered her money and a bracelet, according to her.
Before knocking her down on the bed and assaulting her again, she added.
“No proof”
Hotel employees reported having picked up a young woman with a torn t-shirt "
in tears
", "
terrorized
", and stopped the presumably drunk man who was chasing her.
"
No proof
" (no proof), would have dropped Saad Lamjarred with an arrogant smile, according to the testimony of a security guard.
The singer maintained that he had only defended himself, by “
reflex
”, when Laura P. had suddenly attacked him while they were kissing while undressing.
He disputed any penetration and said he was "
incapable
" of hitting a woman.
He would have sued her only to avoid the "
scandal
" because he was known.
Incarcerated in the process, he was released under an electronic bracelet in 2017 – before being briefly detained again in 2018 because he was indicted for the rape of another young woman in Saint-Tropez (Var).
Laura P., now 27, "
will come face
" Saad Lamjarred at the hearing "
for this trial that she is awaiting
", indicated her counsel, Me Jean-Marc Descoubès.
The singer's lawyers, Jean-Marc Fedida and Thierry Herzog, did not wish to speak before the opening of the trial.
"Oversized Ego"
His defense argued that Laura P. had entered the bedroom voluntarily, that she had not clearly expressed her lack of consent, and that there was no evidence of penetration.
Saad Lamjarred was initially sent back to correctional for "
sexual assault
" and "
aggravated violence
" before the appeal court ruled that the facts should be qualified as rape.
During the investigation, he was indicted for another case, attached to the file: he was accused of having raped and hit a young Franco-Moroccan in Casablanca in 2015, in similar circumstances.
The complainant then withdrew from the proceedings, citing heavy family pressures, and the judge ordered a dismissal of this part.
Saad Lamjarred was also charged with rape in the United States in 2010, also in similar circumstances.
The proceedings were finally dropped after a transaction with the victim, the amount of which was not disclosed.
The psychiatric expert who examined the star during the investigation described a man with "
immature
" behavior, endowed with an "
oversized ego which limits his tolerance for frustration
".
Accusations of rape against the man who has hundreds of millions of views on YouTube had reignited the debate on violence against women in Morocco, but Saad Lamjarred has retained the support of his fans - and King Mohammed VI has contributed to his attorneys' fees.
He faces up to 20 years in prison.
