Indicted for rape on a minor, golf coach Dominique Larretche recognizes “an inappropriate relationship”

New case of sexual violence in the world of sport. This Wednesday, the famous golf trainer Dominique Larretche was indicted for “rape and sexual assault on a minor by a person in authority”. The coach, now 72 years old top of the greens, is suspected of having imposed sexual relations, in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) and more widely in Ile-de-France, on one of his former students when she was 15 and he was 50.

The alleged facts, which date back to the years 1998-1999, were denounced by Elodie (first name has been changed), 37 years old today, in a complaint addressed, in September 2020, to the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office.

Summoned to the premises of the Territorial Security of Hauts-de-Seine, where he was placed in police custody on Tuesday, as revealed by the Team, Dominique Larretche – former pro player who subsequently became coach of several great French hopes including Victor Dubuisson – was confronted with his former pupil. At the end of this confrontation, he admitted, according to a person close to the case, having maintained a relationship with the complainant, while claiming to have never coerced her.

Grip

Elodie was only 6 years old when she first met Dominique Larretche. At the time, the former player was giving lessons to his parents at the Ile-Fleurie golf course in Chatou (Yvelines) where he was the star coach. The family then moved and the young girl then enrolled, like her parents, at the Ableiges golf course, in Val-d’Oise, where her great potential was quickly detected. And like many champion seeds, the future hope was oriented towards the one who was then considered one of the best coaches in France.

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According to our information, the young woman denounces several rapes in April and June 1999 at the coach’s home, in Levallois-Perret, and on the edge of a forest, after returning from a training session. Before and between these facts, the coach is also accused of a multitude of inappropriate gestures, kisses and caresses, especially during private lessons. Gestures that the young girl, who is described under the influence of a charismatic man and recognized in the community, would not have dared to denounce or reject.

“Dominique Larreteche assumes and recognizes having had an inappropriate relationship with her,” explains her lawyer, Me Sorin Margulis. If twenty-two years later, this relationship is experienced as traumatic, he regrets it all the more since he had a sincere inclination for her despite their age difference. “” It seems never to have asked the question of the age of the victim “, notes for his part the lawyer of the young woman, Me Yves Crespin.

Investigators must determine if there were other victims

Faced with the examining magistrate, the coach clarified that the complainant had “clearly expressed” her desire to have this relationship. He also insisted on the fact that there was no violence or physical or psychological coercion on his part and that the young girl had come and returned, voluntarily, to her home in Levallois.

Investigators will now focus on determining whether other students have been victims of the coach. For its part, the French Golf Federation (FFG) said in a press release that it was “not notified of this summons, nor questioned on the alleged facts”. Facts “which did not take place within the federal framework” specifies the FFG.

The coach, who left the Paris region to settle in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, was left free and placed under judicial supervision.