A man accused of sexually assaulting
his own daughter for a period of
many months has been arrested in
the southern French town of
Florensac after the 14-year-old girl
had the presence of mind to secretly
film an attack using a webcam.
The girl, aged 14, used a webcam on her
computer to film the abuse, in
Florensac, a town in the southern
Hérault department.
The footage is now a key piece of
evidence in the case.
Details of the abuse were revealed
through the girl’s school counselor at the
beginning of September.
But it was not until after the abuse was
captured on camera that police had
enough evidence to arrest the father.
As a result, the defendant was
questioned last Tuesday and placed in
detention in Béziers prison.
“My client acknowledges the facts,” the
suspect’s lawyer Mathieu Montfort was
quoted as saying.
“There was a period when he was
unemployed and in the middle of a
divorce.
He insists that these acts did not stretch
back further than three or four months.
His daughter says longer. But everyone
should be very careful in what they
say.”
The girl herself, meanwhile, has been
moved to a women’s shelter for her own
protection.
“The victim was placed in a shelter as a
matter of urgency,” confirmed a
representative from the Public
Prosecutor’s Department.
“We have to avoid potential pressure
from the family of this child who was
abused and filmed.
“We are afraid of the violence of this
man who is downplaying the facts
despite the video and who, moreover,
explained that he took no pleasure from
abusing his own daughter and that he
was just messing around.”
Investigators also need to clarify
whether the girl’s mother, who also
allegedly suffered abuse by her
husband, was aware that her daughter
was being abused.
This isn’t the first time in recent weeks
that France has been haunted by the
spectre of family members sexually
assaulting each other.
In September, 25-year-old Sabrina
Bonner was handed a 20-year jail term
for holding down her four-year-old son
while his stepfather defiled him
repeatedly during a prison visit.
Source: World News Site
