He was number 3 at the Clermont-Ferrand University Hospital. Head of the infectious diseases department, president of the medical commission of the establishment, Professor Henri Laurichesse was sentenced on Monday to six months suspended prison sentence and 5000 euros fine for sexual harassment of his secretary of the time.
Harassment characterized in particular by SMS exchanges peeled throughout the hearing. Hundreds of messages sent sometimes late at night, on weekends, and which particularly slipped over this period of one month retained by the court, between January 24 and February 21, 2019.
At the time, the Professor praised the professional qualities of his secretary, but also his “elegance“, “That’s why I love you” he writes with a smiley heart. Two hours later he adds, “I wish I could hug you and kiss you.“Each time the young mother, who is about twenty years younger than him, gently rejects him, says that she sees him as a father. But the messages continue: “I need to share moments _reciprocal intimacy, reciprocal pleasure_.“
Facing the president of the court, he assures us that he did not want to make her his mistress. “But what did you expect of her then?“, asks the prosecutor when he writes that he does everything for her, but”is not very rewarded.“The doctor struggles to answer. Especially since the messages are regularly accompanied byallusion to his position which could be threatened.
But Professor Laurichesse refutes any blackmail. His lawyer describes him as a rejected lover who has trouble getting over it. As for these 500 euros that he slipped to his secretary and she refused: simple financial boost. She also takes his wife as a witness, present at his side at the hearing and assures that he had consulted her.
“JI realize that you experience my SMS as harassment“, writes the doctor, without however putting an end to the exchanges. His secretary will end up asking to change service the following year before being arrested for illness.
Professor Henri Laurichesse is currently suspended from his duties at Clermont University Hospital. A caregiver accuses him of rape, filed a complaint for defamation. Judgment expected June 17.
Facts reclassified as sexual harassment
First prosecuted for moral harassment, the facts were therefore reclassified as sexual harassment, “we went a step above“, says the victim’s lawyer, Me Frédérik Duplessis, who welcomes it, while regretting the fact that this conviction will not be recorded in the criminal record of Professor Laurichesse, to preserve his career and the possibility in particular of working in the public service.
The doctor is also ineligible for any mandate for 5 years and will have to pay his victim 5000 euros for the damage suffered, 1000 euros for his legal costs.
The court also ordered him to pay a total sum of 1,400 euros to the CGT du CHU Montpied and the CGT Santé departmental union of Puy-de-Dôme, civil parties in this case. The union hopes that this judgment will allow free speech among CHU Clermontois staff.