British Tourist 'Raped' by Police While in Handcuffs During Holiday in France

A British tourist in the South of France accused a police officer of raping her while she was detained in handcuffs in his car.

The tourist, aged 37, claimed that she was picked up by three police officers in a street in La Ciotat, approximately 15 miles to the east of Marseille.

The woman filed a complaint on 10 September regarding the incident that happened the night before.

She claimed that the police detained her for 'obvious drunkenness', then placed her in handcuffs and told her to sit inside the police car.

Trip Gone Wrong

The complainant said that one of the police officers entered the car and sat next to her, then started kissing her before he allegedly 'penetrated her.'

The French authorities immediately acted upon receiving the complaint, with one officer in custody and charged with 'rape and sexual assault by a person abusing the authority conferred on them by their position.' He was detained three days after the complaint was submitted.

Another policeman was slapped with 'willful failure to prevent crime of offence against the integrity of a person' charges and is currently under judicial supervision.

The third policeman has been charged with an assisted witness status, which means they are implicated in a crime, but there is insufficient evidence that could merit a formal indictment.

The case was first reported by French news publication Liberation after it was revealed in public by prosecutor Nicolas Bessone.

Reports also claimed that the British woman is being assisted by a charity that handles sexual assault victims.

France's Violence Against Women Cases

Incidents of assaults on women have made the headlines all over France since 2024.

Just last month, a woman from Ukraine was reportedly raped by a 17-year-old migrant in Paris.

The report claimed that the suspect was drunk at the time of the crime and dragged the victim into the bushes located near the Eiffel Tower.

Police responded to the incident after receiving reports about the woman's screams.

Last autumn, the story of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot shocked France and the rest of the world.

Pelicot unknowingly took drugs and sedatives from her husband for more than a decade so he and about 50 other men, whom he met online, could sexually assault her.

The court hearing against her husband, Dominique Pelicot, aged 72, ran for 16 weeks. It captured the attention of the media.

Let Shame Swap Sides

Gisele bravely waived her right for anonymity to 'open the doors' of the trial to the public, 'so society could see what was happening.'

According to her, she wanted the 'shame to swap sides' from the victim to the perpetrator of the crime.

Dominique was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape, while 47 of the men who participated in the sexual assaults over the years were also found guilty by the court. They all face 15 years in prison.

Cases of rape in France have been rampant over the years. According to data from the French feminist collective Nous Toutes, 58,000 women between the ages of 18 and 74 living in mainland France were victims of rape.