Interviewed in Seven to Eight (TF1), Rachel Jouvet, a woman who escaped femicide, spoke about the violence she suffered at the hands of her former partner.
Domestic violence and femicide are scourges of society . Rachel Jouvet narrowly escaped femicide. Interviewed by Audrey Crespo-Mara, as part of the show’s Portrait of the Week section Seven to eight (TF1), she agreed to discuss his years of ordeal , as well as the violence that his former companion subjected him to. She unfortunately lost a loved one because of the latter.
During the show, broadcast on April 21, she said that she was fell in love with a 24 year old man when she was 17 . At the start, he was considerate and gave her a lot of advice on what she should do, what she should eat… The first shots and the first violence happened when she became pregnant.
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A frightening testimony
Aged 18, Rachel Jouvet didn’t feel ready to be a mother. She then became delighted and announced what she thought was good news to the man she loved then, and who wanted to become a father. “He got up, he slapped me and he justified it by saying that I had hurt him and our child. » She explained to the TF1 journalist that it was already under its price . Her companion started hitting her again, telling her that “it was her fault” if he raised a hand against her. “At first, it’s slaps, then it becomes more and more violent.”
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Today’s guest then spoke the shame of receiving blows , which pushed him to hide the violence of his companion. Her dance teacher at the time noticed the bruises she had. She warned the parents of the one who was a young woman (she was still in high school) . Her parents then warned her partner, who assured them that he would stop any violence against her. But despite the progress of the pregnancy, he did not stop hitting her. “The more the pregnancy progresses, the more I belong to it, and the less I do what I want. And he continues the blows » she said in front of the camera. “One day he broke my jaw” she then added.
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An infernal spiral leading to tragedy
It was at the hospital that she was told that she was a battered woman. She went to file a complaint the next day with her father. She heard that it was useless because she was certainly going to withdraw her complaint and did not follow through with her approach. The birth of his daughter did not calm things down and Rachel Jouvet felt more and more in danger. She left her partner to protect her daughter. After her daughter was kidnapped and blackmailed into returning to the marital home, she asked for sole custody of her child and was granted it. Followed two years of harassment and death threats sent to her and her parents (with whom she had returned to live). Thirteen complaints were filed at the time. “It was never serious enough for him to be arrested,” she explains. And the tragedy occurred when the man showed up armed at his parents’ house. Rachel Jouvet heard loud voices and gunshots and quickly went downstairs to calm her former partner.
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After making him go upstairs to see his child, the latter said to him: ” You will die “ . The tragedy was avoided because his weapon jammed. “And there, I felt inside me that I had to fight,” she continued to recount calmly. Her mother fled to neighbors and Rachel Jouvet managed to crawl into other neighbors’ homes after being strangled in the courtyard of the house by his former companion. Unfortunately, he had killed his father. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison with twenty years of security. It was released in 2023 , after 24 years in prison. Extremely moved, Rachel Jouvet confided that she felt guilty for the death of her father. So she decided to act “so that he did not die for nothing” , as she clarified during the interview. She is now working in the field to raise awareness among police officers, high school students and other members of the public about domestic violence. “When there is a woman who dies, I tell myself that it could have been me. And it’s unbearable because I wonder how many calls for help she made… to what extent she was not heard” assured Rachel Jouvet at the end of the interview. “And you are here to talk about it” Audrey Crespo-Mara replied. “Yes, that’s what I’m here for.”
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