“Four women complain about his behavior”: a Gard wellness masseur suspected of sexual assault and rape

Un masseur gardois accusé de viol. MAXPPP ILLUSTRATION

Le masseur clame son innocence et demande à sortir de prison. Il a été mis en examen et incarcéré le 10 décembre 2024.

Suspected of sexual assault and rape on women he massaged as a wellness masseur in a town in the Nîmes region. The man claims his innocence and asks to be released from detention where he was placed after his indictment on December 10, 2024. A support committee was present this Thursday, December 26 in the lost steps room of the Nîmes Court of Appeal. And it is precisely the investigating chamber that was examining this request for release. President Christophe Teissier warns in the preamble to the summary of the case “We are not here to judge you” but only to examine the request for release. The magistrate ritually tells the suspect that he can make statements, answer questions or exercise his right to remain silent.

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Accused of touching the genitals and clitoris, he allegedly mentioned a massage because of a “blockage”

The presiding judge explains that the case emerged after a complaint was filed in November 2024. The client who reported the facts assures that the masseur “touched her genitals and clitoris several times”. She asked what he was doing and he allegedly replied that she had “a blockage” that needed to be addressed and that he then moved up to the upper part of her body, the magistrate recalled in essence, while indicating that this masseur had been the subject of a complaint for sexual assault in 2021 and that the case had been closed.

The investigations reportedly involved hearing a large portion of the masseur's clients. He is thus specifically accused of two types of acts: sexual assault and rape (digital penetration). In total, four alleged victims, including one who did not file a complaint, are listed in the proceedings.

In the prisoners' box, between two prison officers, and in the presence of a room largely filled with the support committee, the masseur, sometimes in tears, listened to the plea of ​​his lawyer, Me Annélie Deschamps, who asked the court to release her client and to overturn the order of the judge of liberties and detention of December 10. The lawyer from Nîmes assures that her client disputes the facts alleged and proposes a release from detention with placement under electronic surveillance. She insisted on the statement of a woman who allegedly said that digital penetration was not of a sexual nature as well as on the suspect's clean criminal record. Me Deschamps also indicated that this man should be viewed through the prism of the presumption of innocence.

“Four women are complaining about his behavior and that's four too many”

The attorney general, Dominique Sié, stressed that the investigation was only just beginning and that the inquiry had revealed the presence of four women who are complaining about Mr. B.'s behavior and “that's four people too many”. The magistrate of the public prosecutor's office emphasizes the masseur's “fluctuating statements”. He said in passing that he was totally impervious to the demonstrations or the presence of the support committee present in the court of appeal room. “The judicial investigation is only just beginning”, notes Dominique Sié who opposes the release at this stage of the investigation. “Do you have anything to add?”, asks President Teissier, turning to the suspect in the dock. “I am innocent. My word is not worth much, I have had advances that I have refused and it is turning against me”. The court is due to deliver its decision this Thursday, December 26 at 3 p.m.

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