Sentences ranging from 10 months to 6 months in prison were pronounced on Tuesday evening by the criminal court against the four attackers of a transgender woman in Nîmes. The facts, of extreme violence, took place on the night of Friday February 18 to Saturday February 19 shortly before 2 a.m., rue de la Madeleine, in the heart of the Ecusson. The victim had been literally beaten up by his drunk attackers who had also uttered multiple homophobic insults.
The images filmed by a local resident and broadcast during the hearing are hardly sustainable. They clearly show the avalanche of blows received by the victim, including when she is on the ground, curled up on herself in a fetal position, her hands on her face to try to protect herself. The four defendants themselves seem marked by the extreme violence of the scene, even if some try, without much conviction, to minimize their role, while expressing their regrets.
No continued detention
In hesitant French, Samantha, the 40-year-old victim of Brazilian origin, in turn recounts the insults, the relentlessness of her attackers, the wounds all over her body and fear of dying. “The last kick to the head could have been lethal ” insists his master lawyer Margaux Expert who evokes “a pack behavior whose homophobic nature is beyond doubt“. The defense lawyer master Ludivine Glories retorts: “Surge of violence yes, but due to alcohol and the group effect, not the sexual orientation of the victim“.
“I would not understand that these four come out free“assaults the public prosecutor Jonathan Heurguier. The court does not, however, ask for continued detention. abusers aged 22 to 36 who can ask to serve their sentence under an electronic bracelet.