A 36-year-old Algerian man living in Montpellier is facing multiple rape charges after being linked by DNA to two sexual assaults in the Hérault region of France, one committed in 2010 and another in 2024.
The accused, who has no prior criminal record, was arrested and imprisoned in March 2025. His request for release upon appeal was heard this week by the Montpellier Court of Appeal, but the public prosecutor strongly opposed any leniency.
As Midi Libre reported, the case came to light when a woman named Nelly, aged 39, reported to police that she was sexually assaulted on the night of March 30, 2024, after a village party near Lunel. She told French police that a security guard blocked her path as she was leaving the venue and forced her to perform oral sex. Though she initially misidentified her attacker, DNA collected from her jacket and blouse later matched a second security guard who had been working that evening.
That same DNA also matched evidence from a cold case dating back to Sept. 14, 2010, when a 16-year-old girl reported being raped in a forest near Hérépian after accepting a ride while hitchhiking from a man driving a van. Forensic technicians managed to extract semen from an ivy leaf found near the girl’s belt, which had been left at the scene.
The DNA remained in the national database until it was matched to the Algerian national in November 2024.
The suspect was not in France when authorities first connected the DNA samples — he had flown to Algeria. He was arrested upon his return to Montpellier in March and has been held at Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone prison since then.
During questioning, he claimed Nelly had entered his car uninvited and initiated sexual activity, which he did not consent to, and accused her of falsely reporting the assault because he refused to kiss her. Regarding the 2010 assault, he told investigators that he masturbated in the forest after the teenage girl allegedly declined to kiss him and that she later returned to the scene to drop her belt.
The presiding judge rejected what he described as an implausible version of events. “He explains that the minor came back to drop her belt on the spot,” the judge remarked in disbelief.
Lawyers for the two women emphasized the distress caused by the long delay in arresting the suspect. “Nelly remains very anxious that it took more than a year to arrest him,” said the second victim’s lawyer. The other victim has yet to testify in court due to work commitments but has indicated she will be available in October.
The suspect’s defense counsel, Marc Gallix, raised doubts about the credibility of both complainants. He pointed to Nelly’s intoxication on the night of the village party and the second victim’s absence from the hearings as factors undermining the accusations. “When you have been a victim of rape, you come before the judge, you don’t wait until October,” he argued.
Prosecutors, however, rejected any suggestion that the man should be released, pointing to the seriousness of the accusations and the risk of flight.
A decision on the suspect’s request for release is expected on June 23.
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