Parisian authorities have arrested a 28-year-old homeless man on suspicion of the horrifying rape of a disabled pensioner — an attack that was heard by the victim’s family in a voicemail after the elderly woman had called her daughter for help.
The suspect was detained on Monday for the attack that occurred at the victim’s home in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital on Saturday.
The man is accused of following his 68-year-old victim and forcing entry into her apartment as she returned home. The woman, who suffers from a degenerative cognitive condition and was unable to resist, was forcibly undressed and raped by her attacker.
“She lives alone and suffers from frontal and temporal degeneration of the brain. This disease reduces mobility and greatly diminishes the abilities of people affected by this condition,” a source close to the case said, as cited by Le Parisien newspaper.
Despite her condition, the victim was able to telephone her daughter for help; however, the call was not connected. A voicemail message left on her daughter’s cell phone recorded the beginning of the attack, including the victim’s pleas for mercy and a response by the attacker ordering the frail woman to “spread your thighs.”
Upon hearing the message, the daughter contacted her mother’s neighbor who checked on the victim and notified the authorities.
The pensioner was taken to the hospital for treatment, and after police set up patrols in the neighborhood for a tall, Black male, a man was apprehended who matched the description provided by the victim.
The 28-year-old suspect told police he had engaged in consensual sex with the woman and denied rape. He claimed that he had been invited into the woman’s home and that she had expressed a desire to sleep with him.
According to French media, when the suspect was played the voicemail recording suggesting sexual assault, he claimed to have been framed and accused the authorities of racism.
The suspect remains in custody.