Gerald Darmanin accused of rape: evening, SMS, complaint… what we know about the investigation targeting the minister
The Paris Court of Appeal will hear on December 13 Sophie Patterson-Spats’ appeal against the dismissal announced this summer in favor of Gerald Darmani, whom she has publicly accused since 2017. the main elements of the investigation.
These are the details of the rape charge against Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who was fired in July and appealed on December 13, according to investigative elements obtained by AFP.
One evening in 2009
In March 2009, 37-year-old Sophie Patterson-Spatz went to the UMP (which has since become LR), of which she is a member, to seek support for a review of the 2005 sentence for blackmail and malicious calls to her ex-boyfriend. Gerald Darmanin, 26, who is in charge of legal affairs, promises to “find out”.
They dine together a few days later, then go to the Parisian libertine club Les Chandelles, and then to a hotel where they have sex. Later this evening, Gerald Darman insists on seeing Sophie Patterson-Spatz again, who urgently demands a copy of the “letter” supporting his request for a reconsideration of his conviction.
In 2010, after receiving the chancellor’s response, the exchanges practically ceased. The complainant says that in the following years he “hid the facts” and did not know that “(she) was raped”.
Complaint and Procedural Battle
Sophie Patterson-Spatz “exploded” in 2017 when Gerald Darman became minister. Later, she complains about “rape”. He announced the accusation himself on the radio on January 15, 2018. Twice, the prosecution closed the investigation, first because Sophie Patterson-Spatz did not respond to a subpoena, and then because she did not confirm her consent.
In 2018, he requested the appointment of an investigative judge. The first magistrate considers the preliminary investigation to be sufficient and refuses to continue the investigations. After a two-year procedural battle, the Paris Court of Appeal disagreed. A new judge appointed in mid-2020 dismissed the case last July, citing Sophie Patterson-Spatz’s “intentional sexual intercourse with Gerald Darmanin for the purpose of criminal retrial.” Dismissed on appeal Tuesday.
What Sophie Patterson-Spatz says
Sophie Patterson-Spatz contacted many people, including the UMP, where she met with Gerald Darmanin in 2005 to review her “life-ruining” conviction. According to him, the elected person invites him to a restaurant and he accepts to defend his claim.
During dinner, he would promise to help, then “take her by the hand” and add, “I’m going to have to help me.” She says she then felt “hostage” and was “forced” to follow him to a libertine club and then to a hotel. When he goes half an hour to pick up beauty products at her request, she doesn’t go. “I should never have been in this situation. It was there. I couldn’t move and walk away,” said Sophie Patterson-Spatz during the March 2021 confrontation.
According to his testimony, he is “going to the pan”, although Gerald Darman “understood that I did not want him at all stages”. Her ex-husband and best friend testified that she would immediately let them know she felt “compelled” to have this sex.
The main exchange of the file, Sophie Patterson-Spatz wrote this SMS to Gerald Darman nine months after the facts: “Abuse of your position. On my part, it’s being an ugly fool (…). When I found out about the effort, I needed to fuck you. ” You’re right, I must be a dirty cheater. How can I be forgiven?” he answers. Sophie Patterson-Spatz, who has already denounced the facts to the UMP, says “send me the letters” about the revision.
What Gerald Darmanin says
During the confrontation in March 2021, Gerald Darmanin assures us that it was Sophie Patterson-Spatz who “excited” him from dinner. Between 2018 and 2021, she offers three different explanations for her famous SMS, in which she admits that she was “probably a dirty cheater”: “She told me that she cheated on her husband,” she initially justifies. “I’m talking about cheating on my fiancé,” she said. Later in the conflict in 2021, by not “sending the requested letter in real time”.
Another potential contradiction, Gerald Darman, confirms that he requested a meeting with the chancellor, even a “serious study” of the complainant’s file, but explains that this is “not an intervention”. During the confrontation, Sophie Patterson-Spatz’s lawyers ask the minister: “Have you ever had sex with women you could have interfered with?” “Yes, especially with my current wife,” he replies.
“You still have to weigh what it’s like to be wrongly accused, you have to explain to your parents what happened, because it’s true, I had a young life,” he said in July. Gerald Darmanin was also the target of an “abuse of weakness” investigation and was closed without further action in 2018. A resident of Tourcoing (North) accused the former mayor of seeking sexual preference for housing.
