Enlarge image
Paris Metro (icon image)
Photo: DANIEL JANIN/ AFP
A court has sentenced a sex offender who used scissors to cut women's clothing on Paris subways to three years in prison.
A year of punishment was suspended in the appeal verdict, reports the newspaper Le Parisien, among others.
The 58-year-old father was sentenced for six cases between 2015 and 2018. He had cut open women's clothing and had also become violent.
Some of the victims, two of whom were minors, defended themselves against the physical attacks, but only noticed the cuts in their clothing later.
A woman was probably attacked twice by the man within days.
"Scissor killer" caught using surveillance footage
Although the investigators had a phantom image of the "scissors offender", they were only able to catch him when they discovered the man on surveillance images of the S-Bahn station in his place of residence in the surrounding area.
The man was carrying a bus company shoulder bag through which he could be identified and arrested.
Police found scissors in the bag.
The man initially confessed to the crime, but later withdrew the confession.
More than a year ago, the transport companies in the greater Paris area again stepped up their measures against sexual harassment.
These include surveillance cameras, special security forces, emergency numbers and publicity campaigns.
ptz/dpa