A 31-year-old man, who claims to be inspired by the erotic saga
“
Fifty Shades of Grey
”
, has been on trial since Monday at the Vosges assizes for rape. The thirty-year-old, very sex-oriented, is accused of having, between January 2015 and April 2019, been the perpetrator of rapes against two women, and of
“aggravated violence and aggravated sexual assault”
against a former partner.
The acts were allegedly committed in Golbey, near Épinal, most often at his home. In
“Fifty Shades of Grey”
, the hero of the novel, Christian Grey, introduces his partner to sexual relations where games of domination and submission mix.
“This is the particularity of this case: all the complainants, at the start, were consenting
,” points out Stéphane Giuranna, lawyer for the accused.
During this period, the accused slept with several dozen women he met on online applications. The reports always border on violence and are very often filmed, as evidenced by the 2,182 videos and 40,000 messages found on his phone and used by the police. On April 9, 2019, one of his partners filed a complaint for rape. But for the accused, it was a
“game”
, where he was
“the dominant one and she was the submissive one, who had to obey”
, he explained to the investigating judge.
“At what point is a consenting woman no longer consenting?”
The investigation highlights that 43 women were interviewed in order to identify the personality of the accused:
“If seven denounced facts that could amount to rape and three became civil parties, all unanimously describe (him) as a harasser , a manipulator, a liar and a seducer, soliciting numerous sexual relations with a dominant-dominated relationship and in an insistent manner
.
For psychiatric experts and psychologists, man has
"a personality organized around a narcissistic core testifying to high self-esteem"
, using
"the other as a simple object of satisfaction of his sexual impulses and his perversity »
. The accused maintains that these were consensual relationships against a backdrop of sadomasochistic practices.
At the opening of the proceedings, his lawyer believes that
“this trial poses real questions: at what point is a consenting woman no longer consenting? Does he have the perception of it? In relationships of domination where
'
no
'
is part of the game, how do we go about understanding it accurately?
The hearing, which is being held behind closed doors, is scheduled to last until April 19.