Manon Dubois was only 17 years old when she decided to join the navy. A whim during a careers forum, she who saw herself more as a psychologist or an architect. Dreams of adventure and the open sea sweeping away these all-too-wise vocations.
In October 2019, once she reached the age of majority, she embarked on the Telenn-Mor, a barge which carries out work in the port of Brest, and returns to the quayside every evening. Quartermaster first class, she is assigned to the kitchen to feed the fourteen sailors on board. The only one she meets in her space is an electrical technician. At first friendly and joking, he gradually slips from sauciness to inappropriate gestures, leading to sexual assault.
Manon sees herself frozen again, unable to react. Gritting his teeth and waiting for the affectation of his attacker, who multiplies the attacks, to end. In September 2021, she was transferred to another ship, the frigate Normandy, who goes on a mission off the coast of Norway and Scotland. But, on board, in an incredible twist of fate, she finds herself face to face with the hated sailor, installed in the cabin opposite. Once again he attacks her, once too many. She bursts into tears in front of a clerk, who raises the alarm.
In front of the hierarchy, the man quickly admits the facts – around sixty in total. He was placed under arrest for ten days. At the end of the mission, Manon disembarked. He was even advised not to come back on board for the next one.
Once on the ground, she clings on, thinks she can hold on, despite the trauma, which she does not yet fully understand. But she ended up breaking down, disgusted, two weeks before the technical aptitude certificate which was to validate her definitive integration. “I no longer wanted to work for an institution where we protect the guilty and exclude the victims”she explained to Western Mail in February.
“A lack of proportionality”
At the suggestion of the military hierarchy, his attacker avoided the criminal court. In November 2023, the Rennes public prosecutor’s office validates a criminal composition procedure, which spares an entry in the criminal record of the person concerned, synonymous with exclusion from the ranks of the army. Justice calls it “an alternative to prosecution”. He emerges with 600 euros in damages to be paid to the victim and an awareness training course to complete. Manon Dubois’ lawyer, Me Julien Richou, is stunned. “The criminal composition is not made for these facts but for minor acts. This orientation was given to favor the maintenance of the soldier in office to the detriment of the victim. »
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