Accusation of rape at 36 quai des Orfèvres: the two police officers acquitted on appeal


The two police officers who were tried on appeal for the gang rape in 2014 of a Canadian tourist at the headquarters of the Parisian PJ, 36 quai des Orfèvres, were acquitted on Friday by the Val-de-Marne Assize Court. Three years after their conviction at first instance in Paris to seven years in prison, Antoine Quirin, 43, and Nicolas Redouane, 52, were declared innocent of the rape of Emily Spanton, 42, and emerged free from the courthouse of Créteil where they had been on trial for three weeks.

The news was greeted with applause from relatives of the two defendants as the plaintiff left the court in tears. On Wednesday, the public prosecutor had requested a seven-year prison sentence against these two former agents of the prestigious BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) who had not ceased to proclaim their innocence since the start of the case.

Defense attorneys questioned Emily Spanton’s ‘credibility’

On the evening of April 22, 2014, Emily Spanton, a Canadian tourist, had met several BRI police officers in an Irish pub located opposite the famous 36, quai des Orfèvres. While the atmosphere was flirtatious, the agents had offered a visit to their premises to Emily Spanton, very alcoholic that evening. She came out of it in a state of shock, denouncing a gang rape.

“When they were at the pub, they did not want to rape Émily Spanton,” said Advocate General Christophe Auger during his indictment. “They thought they could have consensual sex with her. But she doesn’t want to. So we serve her a glass of whiskey to force her consent. And what happens is what happens.”

Thursday, during their pleadings, the defense lawyers had asked for the acquittal for their clients, questioning the “credibility” of Émily Spanton and pointing the finger at “evolutionary” statements and “lies” on her part.



Source link -79