Their son, only 13 months old, was discovered by the emergency services in cardio-respiratory arrest in an apartment in Reims before dying a few hours later.
The mother and father of little Smaël, an infant who died of hunger and beatings in October 2018, were sentenced Thursday to 20 years imprisonment and seven years respectively, one for fatal violence and both for the 'to have deprived of care.
The Marne Assize Court, where they had been tried for a week, followed the requisitions of the Advocate General by sentencing the mother, Arlette N., a 25-year-old Ivorian without a residence permit, to 20 years' imprisonment for "Habitual and intentional violence resulting in death without intention to give it"; and "deprivation of care or food" to the point of compromising health.
The sentence was accompanied by five years of socio-judicial monitoring.
The Court on the other hand pronounced a sentence of seven years, less than the requisitions (15 years), for the father Oumar B., 37 years old, found guilty of "deprivation of care or food", of "non-denunciation of bad treatment ”and“ non-assistance to a person in danger ”, but acquitted of the acts of violence.
“Arlette N. recognized that she hit Smaël when he didn't want to eat (…) When there are two it's more manageable.
But Oumar B. prefers to be a kid who thinks only of himself, ”had launched the general counsel Sandrine Delorme during her indictment.
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During the debates, both parents said they “regret” their actions before the court withdrew.
The mother - depicted by the psychiatric expert report as "presenting a weak intelligence and a severe depressive state" - recognized "slaps", "throwing objects" and deprivation of care.
She assured to have followed the educational rules of the father, who denied her any participation in the martyrdom of the child, but "accepted" in front of the court that she "was reproached for not having taken enough care of it".
A "battered" woman
“Arlette N. has cracked because she has a personality that has flaws.
She was beaten.
This causes deficiencies.
But all deficient children do not commit the irreparable ”, maintained Ms. Delorme, rejecting any alteration of judgment in the accused.
As for Oumar, he "cannot pretend he hasn't seen anything," she said.
This verdict is “difficult for Madame.
But the penalty makes sense.
The facts are still very serious, ”comments Arlette N.'s lawyer, Lydie Laithier.
In her plea, she described a "battered" woman, herself a victim of abuse in Côte d'Ivoire, who "collapsed after the birth of her children".
The sentence pronounced against Oumar B. "is a very great satisfaction which corresponds to the version of my client", for his part declared the lawyer of the father, Simon Miravete.
Earlier, he had assured that Oumar "lived in a certain fear" of his companion, "under the influence".
“It is a difficult gap to understand given the family closed-door.
However, legally, the father received the maximum penalty ”indicates Me Nathalie Bucquet, the lawyer of the association Innocence in danger, one of the two associations for the protection of children which brought civil action in this case. trial.
