the suspect has been indicted, notably for rape, announces his lawyer

This 22-year-old man is suspected of being the perpetrator of a series of rapes, sexual assaults and violence against young women between mid-February and mid-March.

The suspect arrested Friday in the “scooter rapist” case was indicted on Sunday April 7, notably for two rapes and an attempted rape, his lawyer told AFP. This 22-year-old man, confused by his DNA in one of these cases, “was indicted for two rapes, one attempted rape, one attempted sexual assault, two aggravated acts of violence and one aggravated attempted extortion”, said his lawyer, Arnaud Lévy Soussan. While in police custody, the suspect denied the facts, franceinfo learned from a source close to the case on Sunday morning.

The Grenoble public prosecutor’s office opened a judicial investigation on March 29 for seven acts committed in just over five weeks. The investigation concerns, in detail, two rapes committed in Grenoble and Saint-Martin-d’Hères on March 11 and 16, an attempted rape on March 16 in Grenoble, a sexual assault and violence with a weapon on February 17 in Grenoble, an extortion attempt on February 8 in Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux and, the same day, violence in Grenoble, detailed prosecutor Eric Vaillant.

Another attack possibly linked

The DNA expertise of the samples taken during the suspect’s custody, carried out urgently by the Lyon national police laboratory, made it possible to confuse the individual “on one of the cases which the prosecution referred to the investigating judge”said Eric Vaillant on Saturday. “Only one rape can be reliably attributed to the suspect thanks to DNA. At this stage, the investigation continues into the other facts”he added.

This file could also include an eighth case. A young woman attacked on the night of December 16 to 17, 2023 filed a complaint on Thursday, believing she had been a victim of the same man, according to information from the Dauphiné Libéré confirmed by the prosecutor.