Andrew Geddes, former tennis coach, sentenced on appeal to 18 years in prison for rape of minors

The Yvelines Assize Court sentenced, on Wednesday January 13, on appeal a former tennis coach, Andrew Geddes, to eighteen years of criminal imprisonment for the rape of several of his former students, all minors at the time facts. At the end of this second trial, marked by difficult testimonies, Mr. Geddes, who had been sentenced to the same sentence at first instance, was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting four young girls aged 12 to 17 in early 2000s and between 2009 and 2014.

At the material time, Mr. Geddes, now 53, was a coach at the Sarcelles club, then at the Levallois Sporting Club (LSC). Her first victim was 12 when she met him in 1999. A great hope of her generation, she claims to have been raped and sexually assaulted nearly four hundred times by the ex-coach until she was 14 years old.

A pattern that was repeated with three other victims, aged 15 to 17, when they were trained by Mr. Geddes, considered charismatic but very hard with his students. One after another, the victims described a “Control process” during which he cut them off from their family and friends, forced them into often violent sexual relations, in his car, in the club’s toilets or during internships in La Baule.

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“Sex slaves”

All have become “Sex slaves” of a “Guru” who practiced with them “Hot and cold”, explained Tuesday the Advocate General, who had requested eighteen years in prison.

“The extremely overwhelming statements of the victims made me feel rightly like a real rot”Mr. Geddes said Wednesday morning before the court retired to deliberate. He also admitted having ” realized “ of his ” guilt “ and “Horrors” that he committed.

“This is the culmination of seven years of fighting to obtain a decision that will allow my client to continue on her way”, responded Nicolas Cassart, lawyer for one of the civil parties. For Didier Leick, counsel to two young women, “It is a confirmatory and predictable decision which is explained by the seriousness of the facts, their duration in time and their frequency”.

The World with AFP

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