The former presenter of the JT of TF1 is the subject of a new complaint, according to the program “Complement of the investigation” of France 2. PPDA announced on Wednesday that he was filing a complaint for “slanderous denunciation” against 16 women the already accusing of sexual violence.
“I’m sitting on the other side of his desk. […] Suddenly, like that, in a second, he asks me if I have a boyfriend. I felt frozen. […] And there he gets up, walks around his huge office. He comes to sit next to me, puts his hands on my shoulders and kisses me. In a survey of Further investigation broadcast Thursday evening on France 2, Mathilde recounts having been raped by Patrick Poivre d’Arvor in 1995. “He rocked me with his hands on the carpet. My body was there, but I was no longer there. He took off my pants, he took off his pants, and he raped me”she testifies.
According to France 2, this woman filed a complaint for rape against the former presenter of the 20-hour newscast of TF1, this Wednesday at the police station in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The information was confirmed by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office, which states that the complaint is currently under investigation. In addition to this accusation of rape, in this interview with Further investigation, this graduate of a school of journalism, aged 24 at the time of the alleged facts, also denounces an attempted rape. PPDA “came close to me, against me, he unbuttoned his pants, he grabbed me by the hair, he brought my face close to his penis, she assures. I struggled like crazy. It was so violent. He got dressed, he left, without a word. The facts would have taken place one evening, after the television news, in the editorial staff of TF1.
This Wednesday, the former star presenter of TF1 filed a complaint with civil action for “slanderous denunciation” against 16 women accusing him of sexual harassment or sexual violence, France 2 had already revealed. It was PPDA’s lawyer, Philippe Naepels, who confirmed that he had filed this complaint with the Nanterre court on Tuesday. “For many months, many unfounded accusations have been brought against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor. It is time for these charges to be tried. We cannot accuse falsely and with impunity., explained the lawyer to France Info. In its complaint, a 43-page document, PPDA castigates “a return of puritanism and censorship, cleverly adorned with the supposed protection of women”.
Beginning of November, Release published the testimonies of eight women who accused – with their faces uncovered for seven of them – of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment that they say they have suffered from Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, over a period ranging from from 1993 to 2008. They then denounced the abusive behavior of the former star presenter of 8 p.m. and described the modus operandi he had put in place.