“We are relieved but he has destroyed our lives forever”reacts Friday, July 1 to France Inter one of the victims of Dino Scala, nicknamed the “rapist of the Sambre”, after his sentence to twenty years of imprisonment with a two-thirds security sentence by the assizes of the North.
>> Case of the “rapist of the Sambre”: how was Dino Scala able to slip through the cracks for 30 years?
“I know he’s in jail, I know I’m quiet for a few yearsconfides the one who wishes to remain anonymous. We just want to be safe, so he doesn’t hurt anymore, but that won’t fix it. He only took twenty years, we took life. We, our traumas, we will always have them. We are relieved but he shattered our lives forever and caused collateral damage in our families.”
It nevertheless regrets that Dino Scala did not take the opportunity of this trial to “to explain”.
“For us, it was an ordeal, an obstacle course to get there and come and testify at the bar next to him, so close to him, it was terrible. And he didn’t respond to any of our questions.”
Victim of Dino Scala, nicknamed the “rapist of the Sambre”at France Inter
Céline Level, the lawyer for one of the victims, also told France Inter of her relief that the wrong suffered by her client was finally recognized by the courts. “Today she can finally breathe, try to turn the page, it’s been a long journey for her”she says.
Dino Scala, worker, father, coach of a football club, was found guilty by the assizes of the North of 54 acts of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and attempted sexual assault, committed near his home near the Franco-Belgian border between 1998 and 2018. He was cleared of two charges. Of these 56 facts in total, he admitted 40.