Several children attacked or raped? Juvenile accusations against Abbé Pierre

Several children attacked or raped Juvenile accusations against Abbe Pierre

At least 33 people accuse Abbé Pierre of sexual assault and among these testimonies collected by the Egaé firm responsible for investigating by Emmaüs, some mention facts targeting minor children.

Since the first accusations of sexual assault made against Abbot Pierrethe affair continues to grow. Nine new accusations were revealed on Monday January 13 in the third report from the Egaé firm, mandated by Emmaüs International, Emmaüs France and the Abbé Pierre Foundation to shed light on the actions of Abbé Pierre. The total number of testimonies denouncing the actions of the priest who died in 2007, at the age of 94, therefore amounts to 33 and among them some mention attacks targeting children.

The testimony of a little boy appears in the latest round of accusations against Henri Grouès, the real name of Abbé Pierre. The victim, who preferred to remain anonymous, refused to allow the circumstances of the crime to be exposed publicly, but the report nevertheless specifies that Abbé Pierre is accused of “a sexual act with penetration on a minor boy”. Facts corroborated by the victim with elements which made it possible to “certify the veracity of his testimony”, as cited in particular The Parisian.

The previous report from the Egaé cabinet had already reported kisses imposed on an 8-year-old girl when the priest was 61 years old. The latter has also decided to return to the attacks that she says she suffered when she was a child in a Special Envoy report broadcast this Thursday, January 16. The 58-year-old woman says that at the time she lived in an Emmaüs community with her good father who was close to Father Pierre. According to her, the attack occurred while she was at the house of the man of the church who told her to come and sit on his knees, her father having gone shopping. “With his left hand, he really crushes my torso, my chest. […] he presses on my private parts, very, very strongly”, relates the victim to the teams of FranceTelevision. She adds: “He grabs my jaw, and he turns my head towards his face and he pushes his tongue in. He kisses me quite violently.”

The same woman, then a little girl, was allegedly attacked a second time according to her testimony. In addition to this accusation and that concerning acts targeting a little boy, a suspicion of assault on another boy aged under 10 is mentioned in the report published on January 13. The facts date back to “before 1965”.

Incestuous abuse

Other disturbing facts, the presence of at least two victims in Abbé Pierre’s family. A woman thus reported incestuous abuse dating back “to the end of the 1990s”. Abbot Pierre allegedly touched his chest on different occasions. He also allegedly made sexual remarks to her and kissed her once forcibly. The second victim, however, could not be heard and therefore does not appear in the official count.

Forced kisses and touching of the chest seem to be most often reported by Abbé Pierre’s victims. We also note that they were able to know him at different stages of his life, in varied circumstances, both in the family and professional context. Two caregivers attacked by Abbé Pierre in the 1990s and 2000s are among the victims, one of whom was pregnant at the time of the events. There is also a woman who worked in a hotel, a participant in a youth camp, another who accompanied him on a trip or even a flight attendant he met on a plane.

At least 57 victims, but…

If 33 testimonies are officially recorded, the firm would also have identified around twenty other facts. But some victims did not wish to be heard or the facts could not be consolidated by archives or the priest’s diary. At least 57 victims have been identified, reports Caroline de Haas, associate director of the Egaé group. But the president of the Conference of Religious Men and Women of France, Véronique Margron, who collected the very first testimony in 2023, believes that “on this type of affair, we must fear two to three times more [de victimes] at least – between those who will not dare to speak, those who experience traumatic dissociation…”

lint-1