A Civil Service member allegedly drugged more than 200 women using an unknown substance slipped into coffee to make them need to urinate during job interviews
A group of nearly 250 women have accused a former civil servant of drugging them during a job interview so that he could watch wee.
Christian Nègre, who at the time worked as a senior official at France’s Ministry of Culture, allegedly spiked coffees with an unknown chemical at the beginning of the interview. When the effects of the drug came through, prosectors say he would then take the victims to a non-existent public toilet.
One of his alleged victims spoke the BBC and claimed that the civil servant gave her a coffee at the beginning of the interview before encouraging them to continue the process outside, at which point the effects of the drug began.
Anaïs de Vos, who was interviewed by Nègre in 2011, said: “I was really weak. I couldn’t really feel my legs any more. I was scared. I didn’t know what was happening.”
She claims that Nègre encouraged her to urinate in front of him, saying: “He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Oh, do you need a wee?’,” she recalled.
“I thought it was really weird the way he looked at me, almost gleeful.”
He allegedly pointed her in the direction of a storage cupboard beneath a bridge and told her she could urinate there. Refusing, they headed to a café toilet, but she says that she lost control before reaching it.
Another alleged victim, Sylvie Delezenne, described a similar chain of events. She described being approached by Nègre on LinkedIn in 2015, travelling from Lille to Paris for her “dream job”.
She told public broadcaster Franceinfo: “I was in a very precarious situation. My unemployment benefits were about to run out, and I knew I was going to end up on welfare.
“I was actively looking for work and networking on LinkedIn. When this senior official from the Ministry of Culture contacted me, with a profile perfectly aligned with my background in communication and marketing, I saw it as a real opportunity.
“I felt an unusual urge to urinate (which) became increasingly urgent. My heart started racing, I was trembling, sweating, and felt like my body was swelling.”
Unable to hold it any longer, Delezenne said she had to urinate in a tunnel leading to one of the bridges over the River Seine, describing the experience as painful and embarrassing.
Nègre’s alleged crimes were unearthed after he was reportedly caught photographing a woman from beneath a table, according to the prosecution. He was subsequently suspended and then sacked.
Investigators reportedly discovered a spreadsheet on Nègre’s computer entitled “Experiments P” that allegedly recorded the women’s arrival times, when they were given the drugs, how long they took to urinate and even what underwear they wore.
Nègre has so far declined to comment on the allegations. He is under investigation on charges that include drugging, invasion of privacy and sexual assault and is expected to stand trial.