A 34-year-old man was tried in immediate appearance this Monday afternoon by the criminal court of Périgueux. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison, including 9 suspended for having, on the night of Friday to Saturday, raped his companion who was nine weeks pregnant.
Drunk, he bites her in the face
The facts date back to the night of Friday to Saturday, in a building in downtown Périgueux. While he is spending the evening at his girlfriend’s house, an argument breaks out. The municipal police arrive on the scene, after being informed of noise pollution by a neighbor. The man refuses to blow into the breathalyzer but the police find that he is in a state of obvious intoxication. During the argument, the man went back and forth between his partner’s home and the city center. He consumed, according to him “Three hopes (beers editor’s note) and one or two glasses of vodka maximum”.
According to him, he would have received a call from a former girlfriend, which would have annoyed his wife and “a mutual stampede” would have burst. Heard by the police, the victim claims that he bit her in the face, in front of her little boy, born from a previous union. Challenges him, he says he doesn’t remember biting her. “It was just a domestic dispute ma’am.” The president shows the court the photos of the victim, taken a few minutes after the arrest. She has a red mark on her cheek. “We don’t see any traces of jaws”, he replies.
The President then calls the young woman to the bar, she did not constitute a civil party. “We bickered, we argued”, she defends. “I grabbed her hair at the same time…I have a side that’s very impulsive. I’m the one looking for it a lot at the moment, with the pregnancy.” “But you say he bit you. Do you find that normal?”, asks the president. “With hormones, it can degenerate. But he takes care of my child as if he were his father”, she says.
22 convictions on his record
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault that the argument broke out. If I had changed my number, the girl would not have called me”, says the defendant. “I note that Mr. has just celebrated his birthday. He is 34 years old, and already 22 convictions, including seven for violence”, protests the prosecutor. In 2020, the man was sentenced to 10 months in prison, 6 of which were suspended for violence against his ex-partner. He had slapped her, kicked her and shoved her.
“It is the role of Justice: to protect the victim despite the fact that she has not lodged a complaint. It is not word against word, there is the whole procedure. Alcoholism, blood found. You will hold account of his criminal record, he presents a significant risk”, underlines the prosecutor who requires 18 months imprisonment including 10 months suspended. “We can think that it is severe, but we must take into account the position of the defendant and his past”, he adds. “The prosecutor asks you to give your opinion with regard to the past of Mr. I also ask you to take into account his personality”, retorts the defendant’s lawyer. “Monsieur has changed, he learned from his last conviction. He found a job, accommodation. He has been in a relationship with the victim for eight months and his child considers him his father.” The man adds, on several occasions, that he is ready to seek treatment for his alcohol problems.
The court sentences him to 18 months in prison, 9 of which are suspended, the obligation to take care of himself, the ban on appearing at his companion’s home, and the partial revocation of his suspended sentence for three months in the context of his previous conviction in July 2020. He is being held in custody.