A police officer, suspended after complaints of sexual harassment, was sentenced Monday, October 2 to one year in prison for sexual assault in the public space, we learned Tuesday from his lawyer, confirming information from La Dépêche du Midi. The 54-year-old man appeared before the Toulouse Criminal Court for approaching two women in the street and touching their buttocks during the month of September.
His one-year prison sentence was accompanied by three years of socio-judicial monitoring, his lawyer, Cédrik Bréan, told AFP. Two weeks before this hearing, he had already been sentenced by the same court to a one-year suspended prison sentence for similar acts, committed in early September on a woman who was boarding a bus.
Several complaints of sexual harassment
A police officer since the age of 22, this man has also been the target of several complaints of sexual harassment since 2022, which have earned him a suspension from his duties. A woman accuses him of having followed him by car to his home by making remarks of a sexual nature and a dozen others of having made remarks of a sexual or sexist nature within the school of the national police of Toulouse, where he officiated as a trainer.
A new trial is due to take place in November for these charges. According to Mr. Bréan, his client suffers from "psychiatric disorders" that could explain his actions. "We could have avoided this if we had helped him heal," he said.