A Netflix true crime docuseries, The Outreau Case: A French Nightmare, is a four-part series that deals with one of the most uncomfortable and unsettling criminal cases in French criminal history. The series deals with an extremely horrible act of pedophilia that took place in the La Tour du Renard neighborhood of the Outreau area in France, where eight adults were accused of sexually abusing children from the neighborhood. One couple among these abusers, Thierry Delay and Myriam Badaoui, were the masterminds behind these sick, and they subjected their four children to this torture. In this four-part documentary, only one of these four sons, Jonathan Delay, bravely stepped forward to discuss the nightmare he had to go through because of his parents. He is left traumatized, but he isn’t ashamed to speak about it and to bring forth the truth that has been concealed for years. Even when talking about this unsettling incident, people are not aware of the entire thing because many know only parts of the truth or different versions of the truth, but Jonathan Delay appeared in the documentary to reveal everything he knew and suspected so far. Let’s discuss Jonathan Delay’s journey to learn more about what happened to him and where he ended up eventually.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened To Jonathan Delay?
Thierry Delay and his wife, Myriam Badaoui, had four sons, among whom Jonathan Delay was the most prominent. He and his two older brothers, who were very little at the time, and their younger brother, who was only two years old, became subjects of the unforgivable criminal act committed by their parents. Jonathan told the makers of the show that his father, Thierry, had always been a creepy individual with a lot of issues. Jonathan mentioned that Thierry even had a collection of skulls that used to freak him out as a child. Not only that, but several CDs of adult films were in their house, and Thierry used to watch those videos on a regular basis in front of their kids, who couldn’t even sleep because of the uncomfortable noise. Myriam’s behavior always seemed strange to Jonathan, as in the absence of his father, his mother used to behave differently, but whenever Thierry was around, Myriam would act like an obedient wife who used to listen to everything her husband said while totally overlooking the fact that her children had been going through a difficult time. Perhaps Thierry had forced his wife to do such activities and compelled her to make the video recordings of him sexually harassing his kids. However, later, thanks to Myriam, the kids were finally sent away from home to the foster families, for which Jonathan had always been grateful to her. But, in the foster house, the children’s unusual behavior and conversations about adult films among themselves gravely concerned their foster parents, who quickly informed the authorities. The psychologist as well as the school teachers had also noticed this uncanny behavior in the children, and they were finally asked to describe everything about what happened to them in their house.
Jonathan talked about many confusing aspects of this incident, revealing that he didn’t believe Myriam’s confession was entirely true. Myriam had admitted that her previous statement was elaborate and not everyone she accused had actually anything to do with their criminal activities. However, Jonathan expressed his concerns, saying that he believed those acquitted 13 people out of a total 17 suspects were not all innocent because some of them actively participated in their torturous activities, and Jonathan could still recognize them. He even voiced his concern about the murder of a little girl, whose body was nowhere to be found. Without the body, there was no case, but Jonathan strongly believed that little Belgian girl, whose age was around 9 or 10, was sexually abused by his parents and the other perpetrators and ultimately lost her life. However, Jonathan wasn’t a direct witness to this incident, and neither was he an adult when these things took place, which was why he couldn’t be considered a reliable witness in this murder case. However, their psychologist had always put faith in whatever the children said, because they couldn’t have described everything in such a detailed way if it was all a lie.
Where Is He Now?
Jonathan Delay didn’t back off from revealing everything in front of the camera, while his other siblings didn’t come forward because of their personal issues. While some people weren’t comfortable talking about what had happened to them, Jonathan took a hard decision because everyone from every corner of the world should be aware of such unspeakable crimes taking place in reality, which have damaged many lives. Jonathan gave his positive opinion about this documentary because its plus point is that it never tries to sympathize with the abusers or try to find a rationale behind their activities. However, it is important to know their backgrounds and upbringings as well as why they did what they did, but this documentary strongly focused on the horrific crimes they had committed so that they couldn’t garner any sympathy from anyone.
Jonathan had previously spoken against many documentaries that tried to show things in an elaborate fashion, so he strongly condemned their attempt because half of the information was not even accurate. Finally, in this Netflix docuseries, Jonathan Delay did his best and presented himself as a strong man who didn’t feel ashamed for what he had gone through, because it is his abusers who should be feeling ashamed because of what they had done to him.
Jonathan is now the author of the book Beyond the irreparable: A child’s life from the Outreau affair which depicts the entire incident in Outreau and his experiences there. The media have previously pursued Jonathan; in France, it became quite an interesting subject to talk about, but Delay had preferred to stay away from all this. However, it’s very brave of Jonathan to continue being vocal against this crucial issue of pedophilia, because he never wanted any other children to suffer just like he did.
