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The trial whose case led to changes to the law on the consent of minors under 15 opened on Wednesday 2 November in Pontoise, in the Val-d’Oise. The journalist Thomas Cuny, live from the Pontoise courthouse for 12/13, returns to the facts.
Wednesday, November 2, in Pontoise (Val-d’Oise), a trial opens whose case led to changes in the law on the consent of minors under the age of 15. The facts date back to 2017. A 28-year-old man had sex with an 11-year-old schoolgirl. Initially, the accused was prosecuted for sexual assault and not for rape, which had aroused great debate and strong national emotion.
“It is a trial that is held behind closed doors, given the age of the victim, who is still a minor today”, bring it backe journalist Thomas Cuny, live from the courthouse of Pontoise for the 12/13 of France 3. “At the time, the young 11-year-old schoolgirl met a 28-year-old man, a father, who invited her to follow him to a building where they allegedly had consensual and non-violent sex, according to him. He then says he does not know the girl’s age, which she has always denied.“, adds the journalist, who specifies that the case had “opened the debate on the age of consent of minors“.
A new law was thus passed in 2021: it sets a threshold of non-consent at 15 years. “Since the criminal law is not retroactive, the accused will not be tried according to these new standards. He faces 20 years in prison for rape. The verdict is expected this Friday.” concludes Thomas Cuny.