Court sends Paris cops to trial in rape case
Ontario woman says she was ‘in no state to give consent,’ alleges she was gang-raped
The high-profile case of an Ontario woman who alleges she was gangraped by Paris officers inside police headquarters will proceed to trial, after the French Court of Appeal on Thursday overturned a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case.
“This is just ‘wow.’ It’s huge for victims and women’s rights in France,” Emily Spanton said in an interview from her home in St. Catharines. “It feels like a major victory.”
The unanimous ruling from a panel of three judges means that two Paris police officers from a prestigious anti-gang brigade will go to trial for viol en réunion — gang rape — stemming from a 2014 encounter while Spanton was visiting Paris. The trial is expected to begin next year.
“We’re really pleased that the Court of Appeal came to this decision and came to it unanimously,” said Howard Rubel, Spanton’s Toronto-based lawyer. “Now an open court will be allowed to hear all of the evidence and a decision will be made on what really happened that day back in April 2014.”
After Spanton, 37, came forward with explosive allegations that she was gang-raped by at least two officers inside the storied Paris police headquarters, a French investigative judge launched an expansive twoyear probe into Spanton’s account.
Completed last year, the probe recommended that charges be laid against two of the officers and that the case should proceed to trial, based on incriminating evidence that included an explicit text from one officer to another calling Spanton a derogatory sexual name.
However, weeks later, a panel of French judges ruled to dismiss the case, finding there was insufficient evidence against the officers to merit a trial.
The decision was immediately appealed by Spanton’s French lawyers — “this is not the end,” Sophie Obadia told the Star last year — and the move resulted in Thursday’s decision to send the case to trial. No detailed reasons for the reversal have yet been provided by the court, Rubel said.
Sébastien Schapira, the lawyer of one of the two Paris officers, said in an email that the decision “is obviously very difficult for my client, who was hoping to return to normal life.”
“(He) will again have to face unfounded accusations that continue to vary. However, he remains aggressive and confident about the outcome of the trial,” said Schapira, who has previously told reporters his client claims he had consensual sex with Spanton.
The names of the two officers now accused of gang-raping Spanton cannot be published, according to French media lawyers, due to a provision in French law that prohibits the identification of police officers working in certain units.
French media have previously reported that the officers, now 39 and 48, were from a prestigious anti-gang unit and were suspended after Spanton came forward.
Attempts to reach the lawyer for the other officer were unsuccessful Thursday. French media have previously reported the officer denied having intercourse with Spanton.
Spanton, the daughter of a nowretired senior Toronto police officer, revealed her identity to the Star last year to raise awareness about issues of sexual assault. In particular, she stressed the importance of obtaining clear consent before engaging in sexual activity.
Spanton says she was exceedingly intoxicated on the night in question and “was in no state to give consent.”
“We need to be having a societal conversation about what actual con- sent is,” she said in an interview last year. The case — which has become a national scandal in France — stems from an encounter between Spanton and a group of officers on April 23, 2014.
Spanton was at a pub across from the Paris police headquarters during a trip to France and opted to join a group of officers from the anti-gang brigade. After drinking together, Spanton and a few officers decided to go to the police headquarters across the street so Spanton could get a tour.
Spanton, who is now living in the Niagara region, said after the July 2016 decision not to go to trial that she decided she needed to refocus and turned to local activism, working predominantly on environmental issues in the community. She plans to attend the trial and testify, saying she already feels validated by Court of Appeal decision.
“Even if I lose at trial now, I feel like I’ve won. I’m actually getting a trial and get to face them publicly.”