Patrice Evra: Former France star opens up about sexual abuse
By Clive Whittingham
20th Dec 2017, 11:30 am
LONDON (Reuters) – As a young man, France midfielder Sebastien Evra was tormented by childhood memories of gang rape, with the memory of a woman biting his penis lasting decades.
He said in a television interview that he had been made a scapegoat for rape cases in France that had been referred to his club, Paris Saint-Germain.
Evra, now in his ninth season, said the abuse had scarred his psyche for life and caused him self-loathing and depression.
He spoke about this in a documentary on France Télévision on Wednesday, a year to the day after he was banned for six months for alleged match-fixing in the 2009 Champions League final.
“It took me 10 minutes to remember that woman,” Evra said, “because I’d been so traumatised by violence.
“It’s very difficult to know the details. When you look back on it, it was painful because I’d never known anything like it, so I couldn’t feel anything.
“In the beginning people only laughed at you for them telling stories, but as you become older, you’re not angry anymore.”
Evra spent six months in a psychiatric centre in 2004 to deal with his troubles at PSG.
An examination by a team of French doctors determined that he, then 16, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a year after he was in a car accident that put him in a coma.
Evra, who was cleared of wrongdoing in 2011, said he was aware his condition had led to criticism of his character after he complained that he had been treated like a “sinner” during his time in hospital and was “punished” for his own misfortune.
“I knew there was truth in what I
