"
Sorry Mom, I won't do it again."
»These are the last words of David, 8 years old, drowned in the bathtub of the family apartment in Saint-Herblain (Loire-Atlantique) on January 11, 2017. The child, in CE1 class at the time of his death, was the body covered with bruises and traces of ligatures on the wrists and ankles.
Read also: Confinement causes concerns about child abuse
Locked up since the tragedy, his mother Eunice K. and his stepfather Guy-Roland D. had confessed to having inflicted a “
punishment
” on David because he had asked for food from a stranger when he left school.
The little boy was reportedly stripped naked, forced to flex and beaten, before being drowned in a tub of cold water, his feet and hands tied with cords.
Almost four years later, the couple's trial was held in Nantes.
Neither the investigation, nor the five days of hearing, will have made it possible to shed light on the gestures and intentions of each on the day of the tragedy.
The Advocate General therefore chose, Friday, November 20, not to distinguish between the accused.
She requested a 28-year prison sentence against each of them and also requested the withdrawal of their parental authority (Eunice K. has two other children, and Guy-Roland D. five others).
The verdict was to be delivered in the evening.
An uprooted child who has become a pain-victim
Throughout the trial, the two defendants kept passing the buck, blaming the other on the other.
The mother, now 29, has been described as "
very submissive
" and
"
abused".
On the first day of the hearing, his lawyers drew a portrait of a woman victim of domestic violence from her first husband, David's father, before falling "
under the influence
" of Guy-Roland.
"Her relationship to violence has been distorted by all those she herself has suffered
", detailed
in Figaro
one of his lawyers, Me Jean-Édouard Robiou du Pont.
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The father-in-law is a "
deeply
immature, charismatic and fickle
" man, confides Me Loïc Cabioch, his lawyer.
“
In fact, he accuses David of being a child king, but he too was one: he's used to getting anything he wants.
Fascinated by the army, the 35-year-old man often goes on
military “
commando training
” in Côte d'Ivoire and has many airsoft rifles and fake weapons which will be found in the family home.
During the five days of hearing "
terribly trying
" for the civil parties, the Assize Court of Nantes strove to understand how the little boy could become the pain reliever of this dysfunctional couple.
David grew up in Ivory Coast with his paternal family, far from his mother who left to study in France.
The child was pampered by his grandmother and aunts, who adored him and described at trial a boy "
smiling, kind and very affectionate
".
When Eunice K. finally got it back in August 2016, she was living with her new partner and her two youngest children in Saint-Herblain.
In seven years, she had only seen the boy four times.
Uprooted, David found it hard to come to terms with his new life and kept asking for his grandmother, whom he called "
Mum
".
"He
was the child-king of Abidjan, he was spoiled rotten
," said the father-in-law during his hearing.
"
He did not like me, and took pleasure in provoking me
," he explained again to justify the increasingly violent punishments that he began to impose on the boy.
Thursday, during her hearing, the mother admitted that she also subjected
David to "
spankings and cold showers
" and that she "
endorsed
" the punishments administered by Guy-Roland D. "
With David, I had given up, I couldn't do it anymore,
”she declared facing the court.
“
I wouldn't have let him treat my other two kids like that.
"
"There are people who could have helped him"
"
In five months, the accused broke David and completely dehumanized him
", moved Me Myriam Guedj Benayoun to Le
Figaro,
who represents Innocence in Danger on a voluntary basis.
This association for the protection of children, like L'Enfant Bleu, has become a symbolic civil party, so that “
lessons can be learned
” from David's death.
The lawyer cites as an example a series of photos, released during the trial and dating from December 22, 2016 (three weeks before David's death, editor's note).
Visibly taken by the mother, they show the naked child, in tears and the swollen face.
“To
humiliate and make this little boy suffer seemed for this couple to be the source of unhealthy pleasure, since they felt the need to keep traces of it,
” she says indignantly.
For Innocence in Danger, David's death also reminds us of how necessary prevention of child abuse is.
"There are, in this case, people who could have helped him: his mistress, his neighbors, who heard his cries and tears for several months ...
", insists Me Guedj Benayoun, recalling that no matter what who can report a case of child abuse by calling the child in danger number, 119
,
social services or even the police.
"
In France, a child dies every four days under the blows of his parents," she
insists.
L'Enfant Bleu also wonders about the limits of the protocol followed by the teaching staff when it comes to reporting child abuse.
"
When a professional from the National Education finds worrying signs on a student, the teaching team is often required to inform the parents in advance
", explains to
Figaro
Me Véronique Boulay, who represents the association.
"
But we can clearly see with this case that when the parents are also the executioners, it amounts to putting the child's life in danger: it is up to the social services or the prosecutor to manage this type of situation, not to the school.
"