The French investigation into rape and corruption of minors targeting YouTuber Norman Thavaud was dismissed on Wednesday, October 11, on the grounds that the offenses were insufficiently characterized, Agence France-Presse learned from a source close to the case, which ‘then confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office.
During this investigation, seven young women were interviewed by the minor protection brigade, three of whom filed a complaint according to the prosecution: Maggie D. (the first complainant) and two other teenagers, aged 17 and 19. The latter explained that they met Norman on dating applications, social networks or even in the evening. They then exchanged messages with him, drifting towards seduction and the reciprocal sending of sexualized photos, sometimes followed by sexual relations.
“The young girls explained that they felt forced into these relationships, because of the notoriety of the accused and because he announced that he would not stay in contact with them without it”reported the prosecution.
“The consents were not deceived”
The host of the “Norman makes videos” channel, with 12 million subscribers, was placed in police custody in December 2022. During his hearing, he did not “not contested the materiality of the facts, but the absence of consent”according to the prosecution.
“The exchanges prior to the meetings were systematically sentimental and most often sexualized and unambiguous”, said the prosecution. The latter added: “It thus appears that the consents were not deceived, and that the pressure of not being able to see the accused again or his insistence cannot be enough to characterize the constraint. »
According to the prosecution, corruption of a minor was ruled out because “the age of the young girls was never specified at the start of contact, and that they did not have a physical appearance or speech suggesting on the part of the accused a particular attraction to children nor childish bodies ».
Seven young women interviewed, three of whom filed complaints
The preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office began after the transmission by the Canadian authorities in August 2021 of a procedure implicating Norman Thavaud for acts of corruption of a minor.
The complainant, Maggie D., born in November 2000, explained that between October 2017 and July 2018, she had established a relationship on social networks with him, and that the conversation had slipped towards sexualized exchanges and in particular the sending reciprocal photographs of them naked. This Quebec fan then publicly accused him, in 2020, of having manipulated her to obtain these photos and videos of a sexual nature.
As part of a Quebec-French investigation published by the media Urbania in April 2021, other women had made comparable accusations against the YouTuber for facts which allegedly occurred when some were still minors.
In August 2018, Norman Thavaud was also cited in messages posted under the hashtag #balancetonyoutubeur following a tweet from Squeezie, real name Lucas Hauchard. The latter denounced the inappropriate behavior of certain videographers who “take advantage of the psychological vulnerability of young subscribers to obtain sexual relations”.