Cheerful in front of the cameras, the television star is expected to appear in court in a much darker light. The trial of Stéphane Plaza, a successful presenter on the M6 channel who heads a large network of real estate agencies, is to be held on Wednesday, August 28 at the Paris Criminal Court. Placed under judicial supervision pending this hearing, the presenter of the programs “House for sale”, “Apartment hunters” or even “Looking for an apartment or house” is being tried for “habitual violence against a cohabitant”. The small screen star, who denies these accusations, faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and up to 150,000 euros in fines, according to the Paris package.
But the presenter’s lawyers plan to file two preliminary questions of constitutionality (QPC) as well as exceptions of nullity concerning procedural questions, Me Hélène Plumet told AFP, confirming information from the ParisianIf the court retains one or other of the QPCs to transmit it to the Court of Cassation, the trial could be postponed to a later date.
Woman accuses him of breaking her finger and threatening her
Stéphane Plaza is the subject of a first complaint filed by a woman who accuses him of physical and psychological violence, between August 2018 and April 2022 and having resulted in an incapacity for work of more than eight days, specifies the Paris prosecutor’s office. After the publication of a Mediapart investigation which included the victim’s written testimony, she was interviewed by the police at the end of 2023. At the end of this hearing, the complaint was filed, the investigative media reported last October.
The complainant, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she discreetly shared Stéphane Plaza’s life for several years, while working for him and living in an apartment in the host’s name. She accuses him in particular of having “dislocated two fingers and broke another” April 25, 2022, her lawyer Benjamin Chouai told franceinfo. The violence occurred, according to the complainant’s account, after Stéphane Plaza discovered that she had responded on social media to messages from a woman he was also seeing. The same day, according to his written testimony given to a bailiff in May 2022 and published by Mediapart, the real estate agent grabbed her by the collar, pushed her against a wall, before placing his forearm on her throat and declaring: “I don’t know if you know what It’s, the suffering. But now, you’re really going to suffer, I hope you’re ready for what’s next.”
“A neighbor then intervened after hearing screams.”adds the plaintiff’s lawyer. This neighbor discovered the young woman “in pl“eurs”, “who was holding hands”according to his story, which Mediapart echoed. After this argument, the young woman sends a message photograph of his swollen fingers, to which Stéphane Plaza responds: “Damn, what strength I havei”, “sorry again”, according to exchanges revealed by the investigative media. Shortly afterwards, the thirty-year-old filed these messages of apology with a bailiff, as well as X-rays of her hand attesting to her injuries and the written testimony of her neighbor.
Lthe complainant also accuses the man she describes as her partner at the time of punching her in the shoulder in the summer of 2018, and recounts the incident in The Parisianof a package thrown at her face in 2020, after she expressed her wish to end the relationship.
“What my client wants is for the truth to come out and for the violence she suffered to be recognised by the court.”
Benjamin Chouai, lawyer for one of the plaintiffsto franceinfo
Her lawyer describes a woman who oscillates between “the wish that this chapter ends, the desire to complete the process” and fear “the media coverage and being confronted again with the man who was her partner and her attacker”. Benjamin Chouai also deplores the position “particularly perverse” by Stéphane Plaza, “who seeks to reverse the roles and claim that he is the victim”.
Former TV show contestant accuses him of psychological violence and biting
The second complaint concerns “habitual violence by a partner” between December 2021 and September 2022, resulting in incapacity for work for more than eight days, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. This complaint mentions violence committed “by denigrating her, insulting her, threatening her, insulting her family members, and biting her”his lawyer Clotilde Lepetit told franceinfo.
In detail, the complainant, who also wishes to remain anonymous, is a former candidate on the show “Looking for an apartment or house”. She said he had a relationship with the presenter and spoke of a history of intimidation and denigration. “He was sometimes very aggressive, he told me that if he saw me with someone, he would kill me”she tells Mediapart.
This woman first filed a complaint in September 2022 to denounce death threats, confirms Clotilde Lepetit, before filing a complaint in October 2023, following her police hearing, like the first complainant. In addition to the scenes of humiliation described, this mother claims to have been the victim of two bites, on the thigh and shoulder, which occurred during the relationship, during the year 2022. Her lawyer, who mentions a case of “domestic violence unfortunately common”salutes the courage of his client “to denounce actions that are prohibited by law and which are unacceptable.” She also denounces “hypermediatization” of the case.
In the same Mediapart investigation, a third woman, also the actor’s partner in 2021, claims to have been threatened by Stéphane Plaza during a stay in Vienna (Austria), after telling him that she was aware of his infidelities. Two other women finally recount having experienced, in their relationship with the real estate star, “love bombing”, an intense display of affection often used for manipulative purposes. But these three women have not filed a complaint to date and their testimony will not be the subject of the trial.
Stéphane Plaza denies these accusations
Since the publication of the Mediapart investigation, the host has firmly denied all of these accusations. On Instagram, he stated in December 2023 “to have the conquiet science”. Contacted by franceinfo, her lawyer, Hélène Plumet, deplores a “investigation conducted solely for the purpose of prosecution” And “riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies”. She denounces the “the will to harm of women who want to lead to his downfall” the presenter.
Concerning the two dislocated fingers and the broken finger of one of the two plaintiffs, Stéphane Plaza’s lawyer pleads “an accident” occurred while his client was trying to “move the hand” of the young woman during an argument, without having realized the force with which the gesture was made. Hélène Plumet claims dyspraxiaand from which the presenter suffers, “recognized neurological disorder”which would contribute to “his clumsiness”This question of intentionality will be one of the issues at stake in the trial.
The defense intends to demonstrate that the complainants were not Stéphane Plaza’s spouses, but “relationships”. Another element of the defense: the complaint against X filed on June 29, 2023 for cyberharassment by the small screen star. “Women who, under the cover of false profiles, contacted all of Stéphane Plaza’s female entourage and carried out a real manhunt to find out the nature of their relationships,” argues Hélène Plumet, without specifying which women are targeted by these accusations of cyber-harassment. The procedure, separate from the accusations of domestic violence, will not be at the heart of the trial, even if Stéphane Plaza’s counsel intends “report the elements of which [ils] have”.
The stakes are high. The M6 channel, which employs the star, has decided to continue their collaboration while awaiting trial. two internal surveys “have not provided any evidence that would justify a sanction”declared Nicholas of Tavernostthen head of the television group, in November 2023 on BFMTV.