After three days of trial and more than four hours of deliberation, the jurors of the Assize Court of Bordeaux delivered their verdict around 8 p.m. this Wednesday evening. The accused, a 43-year-old man, is recognized guilty of attempted murder and rape of his ex-girlfriend and sentenced to fifteen years of criminal imprisonment. A sentence less than twenty years in prison required by the Advocate General.
“The victim is a woman who has seen death in the face several times during her married life” – Me Caroline Bris, one of the lawyers for the civil party
The Assize Court did not retain the aggravating circumstance of the presence of minors during the rape, considering that the victim’s children did not see the sexual crime committed in the darkness of the room.
“A very heavy sentence” – Me Pierre-Henri Testelin, one of the defense lawyers
The prison sentence is accompanied by socio-judicial follow-up four years with a treatment order following his incarceration. He will have prohibition to come into contact with the victim, to frequent a drinking establishment, and will have to treat his alcoholism. In the event of non-compliance with these obligations, the Assize Court imposed a three-year prison sentence.
The Advocate General describes “a scene of war” discovered at the victim’s home
On October 11, 2018, ten months after the separation, the man spent a drunken evening at a friend’s house. Around 5 a.m., he takes an Uber and kicks the front door of his ex-girlfriend’s home. Positive for alcohol, cocaine and cannabis, he throws himself on the bed and strangles the mother of his children who was sleeping, he threatens to kill her, punches and kicks her, according to the instruction, under the eyes of their two children then aged 6 and 10 years.
“I wanted to hurt him” – the words of the accused
Awakened by screams and beatings, neighbors told the bar of the assize court that they heard the walls of their homes shaking. When the police arrive on the spot, they report blood on the floor and torn clothing, including the pants the victim was wearing. The expertise of the medical examiner reveals traces of rape “indisputable“about the young woman.
“When he drinks it’s a volcanic eruption”
The three days of trial also traced the thread of a “toxic relationship” marked by repeated domestic violence against a backdrop of massive alcoholism, acts of telephone harassment (1,400 calls made by the ex-companion to the victim in four months), three complaints filed in the spring of 2018 by the mother of the family. “One day, at their children’s school fair, he called her a slut in front of witnesses, because he thought her skirt was too short”, said one of the lawyers for the civil party.
“He was blackmailing his children so that they wouldn’t hug their mother” – Caroline Bris, one of the civil party lawyers
“sickly jealousy”, “handling“, “instrumentalization“children, “feeling of shame” of the victim, a “classic pattern of domestic violence” for Caroline Bris. “I felt like Jacqueline Sauvage”, testifies the mother of the family.
“I know I will go to jail and be sentenced but I hope for a fair decision from the jurors” – The words of the defendant before the verdict
The Assize Court of Bordeaux did not pronounce a forfeiture of parental authority against the accused. He should, however, compensate the civil parties up to 96,000 euros in damages, including 60,000 euros to his ex-girlfriend for the damage suffered during the attempted murder and the rape.
At the end of the deliberations, the man was taken back to his cell in the Gradignan penitentiary center. He has ten days to appeal.