Top French cellist receives suspended sentence for sex with a minor

Top French cellist receives suspended sentence for sex with a minor

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

September 27, 2023

The international cellist and teacher Jérôme Pernoo was sentenced yesterday in Paris to a one-year suspended prison sentence for sexual assault on a student who was 14 years old, in 2005 (AFP reports).

He was further ordered to pay 11,000 euros in damages. Pernoo, 51, was acquitted of two other charges of sexual harassment.

A social-media statement by Pernoo’s lawyer claims the verdict as an almost-complete exonteration:
Jérôme Pernoo has been acquitted of almost all the charges against him. He has been found innocent of all the accusations made by former students of his class at the Paris Conservatoire. The Conservatoire’s civil action was deemed completely inadmissible.
The only assault retained by the court dates back more than 18 years, and was allegedly committed in the presence of witnesses who deny it. Jérôme Pernoo disputes its existence. He and his counsel will be examining the reasoning adopted in the judgment.

Comments

  • Zarathusa says:

    It’s a damned shame when famously influential people can manipulate the judicial system of virtually any country to serve their own unjust ends.

  • zayin says:

    In Texas, you can drug and rape a guy and get probation, in France you can sexually assault a boy and get a suspended sentence.

    At least they both have to be registered as sex offenders and possibly limit their predatory behavior in the future. But the judicial system is too slow and too lenient.

    • C says:

      I think there is no public register for sex offenders in France.

      • zayin says:

        From the article: “Le nom du condamné a été inscrit au Fichier des auteurs d’infractions sexuelles ou violentes (Fijais).”

        I didn’t say they were both public, I said they were both sex registries that serve to limit predatory behavior.

      • zayin says:

        and if Pernoo ever travels to another country where the sex registry is public, then his legal obligation to register in those registries, becaues he is registered in France, will be rendered public in those countries.

        Of course, in today’s internet connected world, the universal sex registry is… Google!

        Everyone knows!

    • phf655 says:

      There isn’t anything in the post that says that the victim(s) were male, female, or both.

      • John Pickford says:

        Does it matter? Did he sexually assault a male by grabbing him and pretending it was a bow or have intercourse with female!

      • Ben G. says:

        According to the article, it was a HE:

        “Fin 2022, un jeune violoncelliste renommé jusqu’ici intervenu en soutien de son mentor avait aussi choisi de prendre la parole contre le professeur, affirmant que le prévenu avait, entre autres, «cherché à l’embrasser» et lui avait envoyé de «nombreux messages d’amour»

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      In every possible sphere of justice, I’d argue.

  • Waw says:

    Maybe the court should have condemned him to change his name from Pernoo to Pernoo-Means-Noo!

  • Fenice Fire says:

    I wonder which bow stroke he used in order to secure a suspended sentence ? A rapid fire sautillé perhaps? Must be amazing to be a pervy Pernoo

  • Fenice Fire says:

    Once again, wild raving pervs running rampant…

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