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In 2016, the singer allegedly raped Laura P., a 20-year-old woman, in her hotel room on the Champs-Élysées.
The trial of Moroccan star singer Saad Lamjarred, accused of raping and beating a young woman in a hotel room in 2016 on the sidelines of a concert scheduled in Paris, opens Monday in the capital. The 37-year-old pop star, adored in Morocco and famous throughout the Arab world, must appear before the Assize Court for five days.
The facts denounced by Laura P. date back to October 2016. Aged 20, she followed the singer and a couple of his friends to a “after“, after meeting them in a nightclub. At the end of an evening loaded with alcohol and cocaine, she accompanied Saad Lamjarred to his hotel on the Champs-Élysées.
Read alsoMoroccan singer Saad Lamjarred sent back to court for aggravated rape
There, they drank champagne, danced, kissed. Then, according to her account to investigators, he became more enterprising and she slipped away. He would then have grabbed her by the hair, before lying on her without her being able to push him away, unbuttoning his pants and licking his body.
As she struggled, he punched her, she told investigators. He then allegedly briefly penetrated her with his cock as she pushed him away, biting and scratching him, before hitting her again.
Laura P. explained that she managed to escape him and told him that she would file a complaint: he then offered her money and a bracelet, according to her. Before knocking her down on the bed and assaulting her again, she added.
“No proof”
Hotel employees said they picked up a young woman with a torn t-shirt.in tears», «terrorizedand stopped the presumably drunk man chasing her. “No-proof(no proof), said Saad Lamjarred with an arrogant smile, according to the testimony of a security guard.
The singer maintained that he had only defended himself, by “reflexwhen Laura P. suddenly attacked him as they kissed while undressing. He disputed any penetration and said to himself “unableto hit a woman. He would have pursued her only to avoid the “scandalbecause he was known.
Incarcerated in the process, he was released under an electronic bracelet in 2017 – before being briefly detained again in 2018 because he was indicted for the rape of another young woman in Saint-Tropez (Var).
Laura P., now 27 years old,will come to face“Saad Lamjarred at the hearing”for this trial she is waiting for“Said his counsel, Me Jean-Marc Descoubès. The singer’s lawyers, Jean-Marc Fedida and Thierry Herzog, did not wish to speak before the opening of the trial.
“Oversized Ego”
His defense argued that Laura P. had entered the bedroom voluntarily, that she had not clearly expressed her lack of consent, and that there was no evidence of penetration. Saad Lamjarred was initially sent back to corrections for “sexual assault” And “aggravated violence“Before the Court of Appeal considers that the facts should be qualified as rape.
During the investigation, he was indicted for another case, attached to the file: he was accused of having raped and hit a young Franco-Moroccan in Casablanca in 2015, in similar circumstances. The complainant then withdrew from the proceedings, citing heavy family pressures, and the judge ordered a dismissal of this part. Saad Lamjarred was also charged with rape in the United States in 2010, also in similar circumstances. The proceedings were finally dropped after a transaction with the victim, the amount of which was not disclosed.
The psychiatric expert who examined the star during the inquest described a man with “immature“, endowed with a “oversized ego that limits frustration tolerance“. Accusations of rape against the man who has hundreds of millions of views on YouTube had reignited the debate on violence against women in Morocco, but Saad Lamjarred has retained the support of his fans – and King Mohammed VI has contributed to his attorneys’ fees. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
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