Former French senator Joel Guerriau was found guilty of giving MP Sandra Josso a drink laced with MDMA (ecstasy) for the purpose of sexual assault, reports BBC.
Guerriau, now 68, received a four-year sentence, of which he will serve 18 months in prison, and was ordered to pay Josso 5,000 euros in emotional damages, according to local media.
The incident in Paris
Guerriau invited Josso (50) to his apartment in Paris in November 2023. He later admitted serving her a drink laced with MDMA, but claimed it was an accidental mistake and denied any intent to sexually assault her.
Shortly after the verdict, Josso said she felt “tremendous relief”. Guerriau’s lawyers have announced an appeal.
According to court documents, Josso said she was visiting Guerriau three years ago to celebrate his re-election when she began to feel uncomfortable after drinking champagne.
“I came to visit a friend and I discovered the attacker,” Josso said during her testimony. “He was staring at me, I’ve never seen him like that. I didn’t want to show weakness, because I was afraid he’d make me lie down if I said I felt bad.”
Josso managed to leave the apartment and, with the help of a colleague, went to the hospital, where a toxicology report confirmed three times the level of MDMA in her blood than the recreational dose.
Guerriau’s testimony
Guerriau claimed in court that he was going through a period of depression and that he planned to take drugs himself the night before, but did not. The next evening, he accidentally offered a glass containing MDMA to Josso, he explained. “I feel sorry for Sandrine,” Guerriau said outside the Paris court. “I loathe myself for my carelessness and stupidity.”
He added: “We don’t talk enough about the effects of these drugs… All I want to do is warn about the dangers of these substances.”
When asked about Internet searches for ecstasy and the drug GHB, he said he did not remember.
“I was on the train, thoughts and ideas just come to you,” he told the court, adding that government members should show an interest in “all current events.”
Political background
Guerriau, a senator from the center-right Horizons party, was suspended when the allegations became public. He resigned in October 2024.
Josso, who is still a deputy of the MoDem party, became an advocate of the fight against the so-called chemical susceptibility – sexual abuse through drugs.
“What I went through is still very painful,” Josso told the media. “Psychological trauma is like being frozen in time… I react to the smallest thing. I became very vulnerable.”
Related cases and social engagement
Josso joined an association against chemical susceptibility, founded by Caroline Darian, daughter of Dominique Pelicot, who was convicted in 2024 of drugging his wife Gisele and inviting men to molest her in their home for more than a decade.
Josso often attended Pelicot trials, and this week Caroline Darian and her brother David attended the Guerriau trial.
(TYPE/Source: federalna.ba/Photo: Screenshot/BBC)
