FRANCE’S highest court refused an appeal today brought by a woman who says that she suffered repeated sexual assaults in her early teens for her ordeal to be classified as rape.

The Court of Cassation ruled that Julie, who was 13 when she was first allegedly raped by 20 firefighters, had consented to sex with the men, only three of whom face charges of sexual assault.

The case has taken a decade to reach court, with Julie’s mother first raising complaints in August 2010 against three firefighters for aggravated rape and corruption of a minor.

In 2012, she filed another complaint of rape against 19 other firefighters, two of whom have since died. 

In 2019, a judge decided to drop the rape charges against the three men and replace them with “consensual penetrative sex with a minor under 15.” No charges were brought against the others.

On hearing the outcome of the investigation, Julie attempted suicide. An appeal was dismissed last November, with the court again ruling that she had consented to sex.

Julie’s abuse started in April 2008 when she fainted at school after suffering dizzy spells. She was taken to hospital by firefighters, who were soon to become her abusers.

She suffered anxiety attacks which required regular intervention from the ambulance service, which is operated by firefighters. 

It is believed that they attended her home at least 130 times over a two-year period.

The men began threatening her and allegedly raped her repeatedly when she was aged between 13 and 15. 

One, known as Pierre, obtained her phone number from her medical files and began sending naked photographs of himself.

On one occasion, he said that he would take her for a walk but took her to his home, where two other men were waiting. They all allegedly raped her while watching pornography.

Julie said that one of the firefighters had even raped her while she was being treated at a children’s psychiatric unit.

“I was coerced, I was threatened with punches, I was raped,” she has said, describing her horrific ordeal.

Pierre and the two other men admitted penetrating Julie, but insisted that she had consented to sex.

For sexual assault to be classified as rape under French law, it must involve “coercion, threat, violence or surprise.”

As the case was transferred from a jury trial to a criminal case, the charges were automatically lessened from rape to sexual assault, reducing the maximum possible sentence from 20 years in prison to seven years.

All three pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mass protests have forced the French government to agree to introduce an age of consent for the first time. 

The National Assembly Bill passed legislation on Monday that will fix the age of consent at 15 and ban sex with relatives under the age of 18.