Besançon: he would have pretended to be a dermatologist in his brother’s office to attack women

A terrifying scheme. In Besançon, a man in his forties who had posed as a dermatologist in his brother’s office is suspected of raping five female patients and sexually assaulting seven others. The man, who performed laser hair removal in his brother’s office, was first indicted in November 2021 for rape and sexual assault. Facts he had firmly contested.

For his part, the brother of the suspect, who is a dermatologist, was briefly placed in police custody at the start of the investigation. He had finally been quickly and completely exonerated.

Suspect to be tried next year

Thanks to a call for witnesses which made it possible to identify ten new alleged victims, bringing their number to twelve in total, the case has grown. The suspect ensures for his part that the patients were all consenting, reports the regional daily The Republican East. This former graphic designer and carpenter presented himself to them as a dermatologist when he only held a degree in aesthetic medicine.

The suspect was released but placed under judicial supervision with a ban on practicing. He should appear next year before the criminal court of Doubs, an experimental system made up of professional magistrates and responsible for judging crimes punishable between 15 and 20 years in prison. These criminal courts are currently experimented in fifteen departments, of which the Doubs is not part, but they “will be generalized to 1^er January 2023 (…) to all of France“, recalled the public prosecutor of Besançon, Étienne Manteaux.