The delegate of the Defender of Rights in Alençon sentenced for sexual assault

The Criminal Court of Rennes condemned this Thursday, January 12 the current delegate of the Defender of Rights in Alençon (Orne), Philippe D., for "sexual assaults" committed on his nephew for four years, between 2011 and 2015. facts had occurred during "family meetings" in Saint-Onen-la-Chapelle (Ille-et-Vilaine) when the child was between 10 and 14 years old.

“Everything that could have happened, [he] is a victim, it was I who did it”, admitted the sixty-year-old frankly.

The latter had notably taken his nephew to the museum and had attacked him in the car.

Philippe D., 68, retired from Social Security, held the volunteer position of Defender of Rights delegate in the Orne department and had been suspended for one month from his duties.

“At his request,” he says.

A position that gave him the responsibility of "the protection of the best interests of the rights of the child", as supported by the president at the hearing.

The victim's lawyer, Me Valérie Castel-Pagès, underlined the "courage" of her client who managed to break the silence.

In this rural family environment, Philippe D., who came from an urban environment, was perceived as someone with an irreproachable social image and attached to strong family and religious values.

He explained that he had struggled with this addiction since adolescence

The lawyer also deplored that eighteen months have passed "between the filing of a complaint and the placement in police custody" of Philippe D., whose record was previously empty.

“It was not possible to have him tried in Alençon”, justified the public prosecutor in order to explain this “length” of the procedure.

The file was indeed deported to Ille-et-Vilaine, a neighboring department of Orne, because Philippe D., as part of his duties as delegate of the Defender of Rights, had as referent the public prosecutor of Alençon .

The defendant, followed since September 2021 by a psychologist and a psychiatrist, explained that he was fighting against his "pedophilia" and his "attraction for minors", a "fight" that he has been leading, according to him, since adolescence.

Thus, he admits, if his nephew had not denounced the facts, he was "very much afraid" that it "would have continued".

Philippe D. received a four-year prison sentence, three of which were suspended, and socio-judicial monitoring for six years.

He is forbidden to contact his nephew again.