Already sentenced in February 2021 to 12 years in prison for the rape of 11 women, Lionel Charvin returned on Thursday, September 4 to the same defendant's dock, before the same departmental criminal court of Hérault in the south of France, for the rape of six more women. Charvin, a midwife by profession, forced vaginal masturbation on patients as part of their pregnancy care.

As he explained during the second investigation, he wanted "to give pleasure to women," a practice that was not justified by any medical reason. He admitted to having taken advantage of his position as a practitioner with "many" women, "about 50," whom he cannot name, but who are all victims of an aggressor who turned into a serial rapist.

In February 2021, media coverage of the male midwife's initial trial prompted a surge in complaints. Within six months, 10 former patients went to the police station in Montpellier to recount the violence committed by the 54-year-old midwife and its serious consequences on their lives.

Digital penetration and sexualized massages

During the first trial, Alice (all victims' names have been changed) described the care she received from Charvin during her first pregnancy. At six months pregnant, she recalled his gloved fingers inside her vagina and the frantic back-and-forth movements that lasted several minutes. She immediately sensed that he was overstepping boundaries but struggled to protest because she was paralyzed by his superior demeanor. According to her partner at the time, she returned home "completely distraught."

It was only after the birth of her second child with a different midwife that she realized she had been raped. She continued to experience painful symptoms, including a fear of sexual intercourse, traumatic flashbacks during intimacy, and anorgasmia – or the absence of orgasm. Her former partner told investigators about the couple's years of suffering. He gave them a letter addressed to the male midwife that began, "You raped the woman I love."

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