Saad Lamjarred to be retried for rape this Monday

The case examined in Draguignan concerns the night of August 26, 2018. The plaintiff, a seasonal worker met in a nightclub, accuses the singer of having raped her in his room at the Kube Hotel in Gassin. While Lamjarred has consistently denied any coercion, citing a consensual relationship, the elements of the investigation have weighed in the balance.

The young woman sent distress messages to a friend only eighteen minutes after arriving in the room, imploring her to come and get her. The analyses also revealed that the accused had a high blood alcohol level and traces of cocaine consumption at the time of the events. Although the prosecution had initially considered a dismissal in the face of these contradictory versions, the justice system has ultimately ordered this trial.

A heavy judicial past, from New York to Paris

This appearance is part of a long series of legal entanglements for the 39-year-old singer. In 2023, the Paris Assize Court has already sentenced him to six years in prison for sexual violence committed in a hotel in the capital, a verdict he has appealed. The appeal procedure, initially scheduled for June, has been postponed, leaving this first judgment in suspense.

Saad Lamjarred’s past extends beyond the borders of France. As early as 2010, he had been briefly incarcerated in the United States following a complaint from a model, a case closed by a possible civil settlement. Another accusation brought by a Franco-Moroccan woman in Casablanca in 2015 had, for its part, been the subject of a withdrawal of the complaint. It is against this heavy background that this new decisive week for the star’s future is opening.