At the bottom of the polished concrete steps of the Toulouse criminal court, two shopping bags are overflowing with sweets.
“
Twelve kilos of candy to unwind.”
Jade winds long brown curls on her manicured nails.
“
I smile when I’m stressed.
Succeeding in speaking is already a big milestone
.”
She turns 18 in less than a week and has the maturity of one who has already lived several lives.
Last Friday, she and her mother drove 800 kilometers from Morbihan to face her tormentor in court.
“
It’s not at all like the movies
,” she smiles again.
She advanced with confident steps in front of the majestic dome of the courtroom and discovered the face of the man who so “
dirty her body
”.
But Jade didn't tremble.
“
It was like a blank page inside me.
»
The memories of this spring evening in 2020 came to the surface and words that were difficult to bear burst from her teenage mouth to pour out at the stand.
“
He demanded that we touch each other's chests and then 'finger each other'
,” “
we had to suck off my girlfriend's little brother.
He was holding his toy and crying
,” “
he asked us to cum with words so that it would excite him even more.
» She is one of the 25 victims identified by the investigators of Emmanuel D., 40 years old.
This father was accused of having set up a scheme on Snapchat to force teenagers to strip and then have sex with each other in front of their smartphone camera.
After four days of hearing, he was sentenced this Thursday to 17 years of criminal imprisonment.
The teenager agreed to share the thread of her story, without closed doors, “
so that it doesn’t happen to others
”.
The excitement of domination
That evening, Jade slept at her friend Valentine*'s house who had to look after her ten-year-old brother, while her mother was invited to a barbecue.
During the evening, the two teenagers scan the social network with the little white ghost, when an anonymous account adds them.
A banal discussion begins and the interlocutor sends a photo of a young teenager with mixed skin and an attractive look.
Then suddenly the tone changed.
The person claims to be able to hack into their parents' bank accounts if they do not comply with his demands.
He demands photos of private parts, then sexual acts.
“
We didn’t know anything about it
,” she says.
But out of fear, they accept.
The abuse lasts four hours.
“
I had to film everything, go behind, in front.
Then take over from Valentine.
» Four hours during which “
we did all his horrors, while he masturbated behind his screen.
»
In the criminal court, the testimonies of trapped teenagers follow one another almost identically.
The minutes pass and we believe we are in an endless day.
Always this same sickening scenario, while photos flash by on the screens.
That of a teenager at the sea, her hair brushed by salt.
Of a young boy posing in a yellow sweater with brown dinosaurs.
These images of carelessness clash with the obscenity of the pages of minutes recited by President Noël Picco, which his Toulouse accent is not enough to sharpen.
“He tells me to get my little brother hard, I tell him it’s not possible, he’s only seven.
I was crying, I hugged my little brother.
He asks me to do it again and it lasts even longer.
I beg him to stop.”
In response, an interrupted stream of threats from a formidable virtual avatar: “
you will see what happens to you.
Your parents will face justice.
»
-
Was it the excitement of domination?
To see a young girl humiliated, in tears, in pain?
, seeks to understand a civil party lawyer.
-
I didn't think about that.
I was thinking about what I had managed to obtain, I didn't see the videos where they weren't good
, stammers the accused.
-
How could you ignore the children's reaction?
-
At the time, I told myself that if I had received the videos, it was because they had accepted.
-
They weren't doing it for fun.
Only to protect their family.
The relentless help of the algorithm
In the box surrounded by wrought iron, Emmanuel D., with slicked back hair and the look of a nightclub host, has no other choice but to bow down.
The one who himself admits to having been “
in hunter mode
” at the time repeats the same excuses.
“
I’m sorry for what I did.
She shouldn't feel guilty, she's the victim.
» His lawyer, Me Brice Zanin, is struggling to keep his head above water.
He has already been convicted four times for offenses relating to minors and is on the sex offenders register.
But Snapchat “
is an app known for nudity.”
In full confinement, he added a few teenage girls and the algorithm did the rest.
“
If you add the same type of profiles, the application will suggest others similar to you in spades.”
All he had to do was copy/paste his “
perverted scenario
” into a new conversation.
“
I was in a bubble.
The investigators had to arrest me, even for me.
Finally it's over.
»
After escaping from her friend's room, Jade took a deep breath of air and then began to pray: "
May God bless me and may my mother not judge me
."
To the shame of having been forced to submit to the orders of this predator was added that of the parents' gaze.
How can we talk about these bodies that were forced to touch each other when we don't even know how to put names to such acts?
Florence, his mother, discovered the affair a week later.
A phone call asks him to report to the Baud gendarmerie.
“
I was told sit down.
I fell to the ground.
» His daughter hadn't said anything to him.
Out of modesty, to protect her.
Florence was then a single mother and had three children, two of whom had experienced the separation badly.
To avoid adding pain to pain, Jade erected “
a wall
” between her mother and her memories, which were so heavy.
“ Tyrannical
” guilt
binds mothers and daughters.
The latter for not having been able to protect, the former for having acted.
“He broke families”
Most of the time, the parents were in the next room but knew or heard nothing of what was happening in their children's room.
“
We feel guilty, we tell ourselves that we have failed to protect them,
” laments Florence, wrapped in a sailor shirt, a discreet reminder of this Brittany from which she had to escape to immerse herself in the sordid world.
Like her, a mother's heart broke when she realized that her child had lied about not having sent naked videos "
for fear of being scolded
".
Of another who had to take care of her daughter in tears “
without being able to speak, explaining that she had done something stupid
”.
“
He not only broke children, he broke families
,” breathes the Breton woman, who is already worried about the actions of the accused after his incarceration.
In addition to 17 years, the criminal court sentenced Emmanuel D. to 20 years of socio-judicial supervision and a ban on contact with minors, except his son.
Jade didn't expect any punishment.
She wasn't there for that.
She thinks of these 1,327 profiles saved in her attacker's Snapchat directory, of these teenagers who were not identified by investigators, of those who almost “gave
up their lives
” after the events.
She does not consider Emmanuel D. “
as a monster, but as someone who needs care.
» Since that April evening, Jade swore to herself that when she had children, she would warn them against strangers on the internet.
His trauma did not make him turn his back on romantic relationships.
Besides, her boyfriend is waiting for her near the boxes of candy.
The only thing she needs to heal herself is “
to go to the beach, see beautiful landscapes.”
And already things are much better.”
*The first name has been changed. At the family's request, that of Jade, a minor, was not changed.