“She says
It wasn't you
, she says her rapist was her brother.
And she apologizes.
These are essentially the terms of the retraction of Julie D., a victim, who in 1998 accused Farid El Haïry of rape and sexual assault.
The latter had been sentenced in 2003 by the Assize Court for minors in Douai (North).
The review court examines his file this Thursday and could recognize a miscarriage of justice which could pave the way for his rehabilitation.
According to Franceinfo, in 1998, 14-year-old Julie D. accused Farid El Haïry, a 17-year-old boy from her town, of having raped and assaulted her.
“He never stopped during the first years, during the investigation, during the investigation, during his trial, long after, to say
I am innocent
.
But he could no longer imagine that one day we could return to this innocence and above all consecrate it, ”confides his lawyer Frank Berton on the radio.
She wanted to “protect her family”
In 2017, almost 20 years after her first accusation, Julie D. contacted the public prosecutor of Douai.
“I confess to having lied” she wrote to the magistrate.
The young woman finally accuses her brother.
Enough to launch a review procedure and probably relieve the detainee, now 41 years old.
“He only finally learned of it in the summer of 2022, when he was told that she had reconsidered her accusations.
She says
It wasn't you,
she says her rapist was her brother.
And she apologizes”, explains Me Frank Berton.
“It upset Farid because he paid instead of someone else”.
If Julie D. wrongly accused the young man and did not denounce his brother, it was "to protect his family", explains Me Anne-Sophie Wagnon-Horiot, the young woman's lawyer.
At the time, the experts had deemed the young woman credible.
“It was because she was a victim.
But not from Farid El Haïry, supports the lawyer.
The word of a child or a teenager means something.
But you have to analyze, dig, verify.
There must be an investigation.
»
Franck Berton, this possible miscarriage of justice would be linked to "dysfunctions" of justice.
According to him, the investigation was “scandalous and biased” with “a racist dimension”.