Ex-French Senator Found Guilty of Drugging Female MP in Sexual Assault Attempt

Joël Guerriau, previously a senator in France, has been convicted for drugging a fellow member of parliament in an attempt to sexually assault her.

The 68-year-old Guerriau has been sentenced to four years in prison, with 18 months being served in custody. Additionally, the court mandated him to pay €5,000 (£4,350) in damages to the victim, Sandrine Josso, as compensation for emotional trauma. His legal team has announced plans to appeal the conviction.

The events unfolded in November 2023, when Josso visited Guerriau's residence three years back to celebrate his re-election. While drinking from a champagne glass, she began to feel ill. "I had gone to visit a friend and found myself confronting an aggressor," she recounted during her testimony.

Josso noted that she was apprehensive about revealing her vulnerability, which added to her distress. After managing to leave his apartment, she was subsequently taken to a hospital by a colleague. Toxicology screenings indicated that her blood contained three times the standard recreational dosage of MDMA.

Guerriau admitted to serving a drink spiked with the drug but claimed it was an inadvertent mistake. He explained to the court that he had been dealing with depression and intended to use MDMA the night prior but ultimately did not. He stated he mistakenly offered Josso the drink laced with the drug the next evening.

During court proceedings, prosecutors questioned Guerriau regarding his internet searches associated with ecstasy and GHB. He claimed no recollection of these, attributing them to transient thoughts while traveling.

As a member of the centre-right political party Horizons, Guerriau was suspended following the emergence of the allegations and eventually resigned his Senate position in October of the previous year.

Sandrine Josso, still serving as a parliamentarian for the centre-right MoDem party, expressed that the verdict brought her a “huge relief.” Following the trial, she has actively campaigned against drug-facilitated sexual assault, also referred to as chemical submission.

"What I experienced is still incredibly painful," she stated before the trial. "The psychological trauma is akin to being frozen in time."

She has aligned herself with an organization that combats chemical submission, founded by Caroline Darian, whose mother was also a victim in a notorious French case of drug-facilitated abuse. Darian and her brother were present during the Guerriau trial, signifying the growing public scrutiny regarding such offenses and the necessity for accountability at all levels of authority.