The lawyer general of the Assize Court of Marne requested Thursday respectively 20 years and 15 years of criminal imprisonment against the mother and father of little Smaël, who died of hunger and beaten at 13 months in 2018.
To read also: "Domestic violence is for the child one of the most serious possible abuses"
"
Smaël was still a baby who depends only on the goodwill of his parents,
" explained Sandrine Delorme during her requisitions, also asking for seven years of follow-up for the mother. “
Arlette N. recognized that she hit him 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,
”she added. The couple is judged for ordinary violence resulting in death without intention of giving it, failure to denounce ill-treatment, deprivation of care and food and failure to assist a person in danger.
The little boy was discovered by the emergency services in cardiorespiratory arrest in an apartment in Reims in October 2018, following a call from the parents, a Frenchman who is now 37 years old born in Mauritania and an Ivorian woman aged 25 without residence permit. Noting the state of malnutrition and the multiple traces of violence on the boy's body, the emergency services immediately alerted the police. Despite the resuscitation attempts, Smaël died a few hours later.
Arlette, mother of an older, placed child, “
broke down because she has a personality that has flaws.
She was beaten.
This causes deficiencies.
But all deficient children do not commit the irreparable
”, supported the general counsel, rejecting any alteration of the judgment in the accused.
According to her, "
we can only blame the violence against Arlette N.
" but Oumar "
cannot claim that he saw nothing.
"
He could have denounced this violence (...) He refrained from helping his son when he was in danger
", she insisted.
To read also: Adrien Taquet: "I am going to launch the States General of the fight against violence against children"
During the debates, both parents said they “
regret
” what happened. Her mother - depicted by psychiatric expertise as "
a deficient personality with low intelligence and severe depression
" - acknowledged "
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
".
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