France: self-styled 'sorcerer guru' convicted on appeal for raping a student he claimed to be spiritually cleansing
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
self-proclaimed sorcerer/guru/healer offering 'désenvoûtement' (spiritual un-hexing) and exorcism rituals to women he approached as strangers
Organization
No organization assigned
Spiritual nexus
He approached the victim as a stranger claiming supernatural power to diagnose and cure a 'curse' or trauma within her, using the promised désenvoûtement ritual as the pretext to isolate and assault her — the claimed spiritual authority was the operative mechanism of the assault, not incidental to it.
- Curse or witchcraft threat
- Exorcism or deliverance
- Spiritual healing or treatment
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2024-12-18 · final appellate disposition
Tribunal correctionnel de la Gironde (first instance); Cour d'assises de la Charente, Angoulême (appeal). Yero B., a Mauritanian man who presented himself on the street as a sorcerer/guru able to perform spiritual 'désenvoûtement', was convicted of raping student Océane D. in a Bordeaux parking lot on 29 July 2021 after luring her with an offer of a spiritual cleansing ritual. First sentenced to 12 years by the Gironde criminal court; on appeal before the Cour d'assises de la Charente the sentence was increased to 15 years' criminal imprisonment with a 10-year security period and permanent ban from French territory.
Appellate history
2024-12-18
Sentence increased from 12 to 15 years on appeal; treated as the final disposition in sourcing reviewed.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- claimed supernatural diagnostic power (identifying a 'curse' or 'demon' in the victim)
- framing sexual contact as a required ritual step of the healing/exorcism
Primary record
Sources
- regional investigative outlet final appellate disposition Rue89 Bordeaux (2024) '"Le sorcier gourou" accusé du viol d'Océane dans un parking, condamné en appel à 15 ans de prison', rue89bordeaux.com.
'Il se présentait comme un guérisseur ou gourou [...] et avait proposé à Océane un "désenvoûtement".' (He presented himself as a healer or guru [...] and had offered Océane a 'désenvoûtement' / un-hexing ritual.) English gloss: establishes the ritual pretext used to isolate the victim before the assault.
- regional investigative outlet background and facts Rue89 Bordeaux (2023) '"Le sorcier gourou" de Bordeaux condamné pour le viol d'une étudiante à 12 ans de réclusion', rue89bordeaux.com.
First-instance account: describes a separate 2018 incident in which he told another woman he was 'un sorcier' able to cure her via an 'exorcism ceremony' because a demon threatened 'the star' within her — establishing a pattern of the same ritual-pretext method.
Related record
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