The facts took place between 2014 and 2021, when Gwenaël Deugnaucourt was responsible for training young recruits at the Blanc rescue center. Over this period, he is accused of a dozen acts of harassment and sexual assault on four young women for whom he was responsible. The modus operandi is repeated from one victim to another: sexual messages on social networks, requests for naked photos, and finally, in the event of refusal, the psychological harassment of victims in their workplace.
“A behavior more than limit”
Placed under judicial supervision in June 2021, the defendant was brought to justice on March 9, 2022, in Châteauroux. The prosecutor then required two years in prison, one of which was a probationary reprieve, as well as a battery of measures relating to the protection of victims and the prevention of recidivism: the ban on entering into contact with the complainants, that of exercise as a firefighter or work with minors for five years, the obligation to consult a psychologist and finally the registration of the defendant in Fijais, the automated judicial file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offences. For Catherine Bayard, lawyer for the various civil parties, these measures are at least as important as the prison sentence: “beyond the criminal aspect, we have here a man whose behavior with women is more than borderline. The ban on contact and the obligation of follow-up should allow this gentleman not to reoffend, that is the most important.
A conviction that lives up to expectations
A month after the trial, the Châteauroux court effectively sentenced the defendant to all the sentences required by the prosecutor. “A relief” for Catherine Bayard, who describes this case as delicate: “as soon as the case takes on a sexual nature, it gets complicated. There are no witnesses, it’s the word of one against the other. word of the other. But here, the testimonies were too similar, it was time for this man to stop falling through the cracks of justice”. Gwenaël Deugnaucourt will therefore serve his sentence at home, under electronic control. He will also have to pay 15,000 euros in compensation to the victims, for their moral damage.