30 years of rape and sexual assault, 56 victims: Dino Scala faces a jury in northern France on Friday for a partially suspected trial of the serial rapist from 1988 to 2018.
The hunting ground attributed to the man nicknamed “the rapist of the Sambre” extends within a radius of less than 30 kilometers around this river, which crosses the Franco-Belgian border.
Among the victims, the youngest was 13 years old, the oldest 48 years old. Many of them, who no longer believed in a legal outcome, were contacted again after his arrest.
“They hope to finally put an end to what happened to them, to have a beginning of an explanation and to be heard and understood,” comments Me Caty Richard, the lawyer for three of them.
Sentenced to July 1, Dino Scala, 61, is appearing on 17 counts of rape, 12 attempted rape and 27 assault or attempted sexual assault.
This former worker and coach of local football clubs has “seen the vast majority of the facts”, says his lawyer Margaux Mathieu. He has made “spontaneous confessions since the beginning of his police custody” and is still “in that same need to explain, to answer questions,” she assures.
However, he denies “about fifteen”, “formally and constantly”, while on certain offences, “the oldest”, he “has difficulty remembering”.
Tied up, threatened
The broad judicial investigation began in November 1996 with a complaint against a 28-year-old woman who had been raped along a highway in Maubeuge. A man came out of the shadows, she says, asked her if he had “scared her” before strangling her and dragging her into a grove. His sperm is found in the grass.
More attacks follow very quickly in the same area. Teenage girls in particular are raped on the way to school. In just under two years, the judge counts about fifteen victims.
They are almost systematically attacked in the dark of early winter mornings, mostly on public roads. The procedure is similar: the man grabs her from behind, chokes her with his forearm or a limb, and drags her to the side.
He threatens them, often with a knife, can tie their hands and feet or blindfold them. He sometimes asks her to “count” while escaping. Permanently traumatized, many will say they “saw death.”
For years, the police multiplied investigations, DNA checks and squared the area. Without success, so that in 2003 a first dismissal was announced. The case flared up again in 2006 after a series of attacks in Belgium. Other older complaints are then brought closer to the file. But the perpetrator remains untraceable.
“hunter’s nature”
Until the attack on a teenager in Erquelinnes (Belgium) in February 2018. A Peugeot 206 is filmed nearby by CCTV. Driver Dino Scala was arrested a few weeks later in the small French town of Pont-sur-Sambre.
Knives, cords, gloves are found during searches. His DNA is present at several crime scenes. In police custody, he confessed to about forty assaults, citing uncontrollable “urges.”
He will later say that he “rejects” women and always felt that he was underrecognized in his professional and private life, “perpetual second”.
The arrest of this father of five children – from two marriages – had stunned his entourage, who mostly described him as “nice”, “helpful”.
But two ex-sisters-in-law have denounced inappropriate behavior. Her first daughter described vague memories of being touched, successively blaming her father and grandfather.
The investigation paints the profile of a “predator” with a life “organized around these crimes.” Before going to work, he “roamed” to find victims and discern their habits.
“I filmed (…) I watched where the women passed”. “I like to hide, to hide,” he admits during class, evoking a “hunter’s nature.”
According to psychological experts, his lust stemmed from “dominating others” rather than from the sexual act.