Arrested on Friday March 5 in the context of the “scooter rapist” case, a 22-year-old man, suspected of several sexual assaults and rapes, will be brought before a judge during the day, reports BFMTV.
A young man aged 22, arrested on Friday April 5 in the context of the “scooter rapist” case, will be referred “this afternoon to the courthouse before the investigating judge”, it was announced. Sunday the Grenoble public prosecutor, Éric Vaillant, reports BFMTV. Resident in Fontaine (Isère), the suspect, arrested Friday afternoon, was placed in police custody after a DNA analysis, carried out urgently by the Lyon national police laboratory, led to the confusion in one of the cases.
On March 29, a judicial investigation was opened by the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office regarding seven acts: two rapes, an attempted rape, a sexual assault as well as other acts of violence committed between February 8 and March 16. . An eighth case could be added to this already long list. On April 4, a woman, believing she was also a victim in this case, filed a complaint after being attacked on the night of December 16 to 17, 2023.
Dressed in black and face partially concealed
In order to carry out their investigation and confuse a suspect, the police officers in charge of the case carried out extensive cross-checking and investigation work. Acting alone on a scooter, always dressed in black and with his face partially concealed, it was difficult for investigators to trust the composite portrait established thanks to the victims’ testimonies. A report, clarified by prosecutor Éric Vaillant, was also widely relayed on social networks. “A 20-year-old man, European type, without accent, approximately 1.70 m tall and of normal build, even slightly plump, brown eyes, pale complexion and rather red hair,” we could read.
The investigations therefore focused on cross-referencing the complainants’ testimonies, but also the use of video surveillance cameras, telephone monitoring carried out at the times and locations of the attacks, and the brand of the scooter used by the attacker. All this therefore led to the arrest of the suspect. If his DNA did not appear in the national automated genetic fingerprint file (FNAEG), the analyzes carried out quickly were able to establish that it corresponded to that found on one of the seven facts, namely one of the two rapes , indicated Éric Vaillant.