Oc\u00e9ane Decan said she was shocked to run into the migrant man who raped her out on the streets.<\/p>\n
A pro-migrant student activist who was raped by a homeless migrant says she is shocked to have encountered the man on the street before his trial began.<\/p>\n
The man\u2019s trial is set to start tomorrow, Dec. 14, after police arrested him in 2021 for allegedly raping 23-year-old Oc\u00e9ane Decan at knifepoint in a Bordeaux parking lot, which means the trial is only beginning for a case that happened two years ago. The 58-year-old suspect, Yero Ba, was released from pre-trial detention in September of this year, which allowed him to roam the streets until his trial began.<\/p>\n
The man is unemployed, homeless, and has a long criminal history for violence and sexual assault, according to French newspaper Sud Ouest<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ba was released by the trial judge despite the prosecutor\u2019s recommending the migrant stay in detention until his trial began.<\/p>\n However, the case has taken somewhat of a twist, with French media outlet Infos Bordeaux writing<\/a> that the case is getting special attention because the victim is a friend of the left and involved in pro-migrant activities:<\/p>\n \u201cIf feminist associations, usually very silent in the face of this type of rape, have decided to publicize the case, it is because Oc\u00e9ane Decan is one of them.\u00a0Very committed to the left, she has fought for the cause of migrants since her young years.<\/p>\n A high school student in Jean-Brito (Ille-et-Vilaine), she was already mobilizing her classmates to help migrants through food collections.\u00a0Before joining Sciences Po Bordeaux, she was involved in numerous organizations helping foreigners (Amnesty International, Utopia 56, Sos Racisme, etc.).\u201d<\/p>\n Decan has been vocal about her own personal case, even if her own advocacy for open borders \u2014 along with the NGOs she is affiliated with \u2014 has led to increased sexual harassment of women<\/a> and an explosion in rape cases across France<\/a>.<\/p>\n She describes how she first saw Ba \u201cby chance\u201d as she was out walking despite the man being arrested for raping her.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t warned. One day in October, I was walking in the center of Bordeaux and I came across him on Rue Sainte-Catherine: He was playing guitar and panhandling. It was a shock. It reawakened everything. Now, I have panic attacks, I don\u2019t dare leave my house. As soon as I have to go into town, I have to be accompanied,\u201d said Decan. French media reports that she is on sick leave and suffers from \u201cpost-traumatic stress disorder,\u201d according to her psychologist.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s rights groups are calling for a rally against the man\u2019s early release. When he appears at his trial scheduled for tomorrow, he faces up to 20 years in prison for the alleged rape at knifepoint.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce again, the justice system is failing to protect victims of sexist and sexual violence,\u201d a number of feminist groups wrote in a press release, also calling for a rally in front of the courthouse.<\/p>\n Decan says the man managed to lure her into an underground parking garage in 2021, where he sprung a \u201ctrap.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSuddenly, his tone changes and he pulls out a knife about 15 centimeters long. He says he\u2019s going to kill me. I\u2019m stunned, I can see myself dying. He\u2019s forcing me to be raped,\u201d she said. A witness nearby intervened to stop the rape midway.<\/p>\n Foreigners are responsible for 69 percent<\/a> of rapes, sexual assaults and sexual harassment on French public transport. As French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted himself, half of all crimes committed in Paris are committed by foreigners<\/a>, but researchers say this figure is actually as high as two-thirds<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\nDecan is a pro-migrant activist<\/strong><\/h2>\n