Essonne: two men sentenced to 8 and 5 years in prison for the rape of a mentally handicapped woman

“It's a very complicated business, where a lot of things are mixed up.

Where interpretations to get an idea are essential, which is a risk for justice.

To interpret is to risk making a mistake”, warned Me Damien Brossier, lawyer for one of the accused, before the jurors left to deliberate.

The Essonne Assize Court had to judge a complex rape case.

The victim, a 45-year-old woman, suffers from an intellectual disability and is mentally handicapped.

The expression of his consent or his refusal to have sex with two men on the night of March 6 to 7, 2019 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, was at the heart of the debates.

One of the defendants is also mentally handicapped.

After much deliberation by the jurors, the two men were sentenced to lesser sentences than those requested by the attorney general, which were 13 years and 7 years in prison.

Ali, the main accused, was sentenced to eight years in prison, the other accused to 5 years.

That evening, Ali, aged about 40, had come across the victim who was wandering in his pajamas at 10 p.m. in the street, in the rain, looking for cigarettes.

Ali had made him get into his car.

One of the defendants filmed with a phone

The victim may have offered him oral sex in exchange for cigarettes.

He had then taken her to an apartment under renovation where two men were.

He had encouraged one of them, Frédéric, suffering from mental disorders, to have sexual relations with this woman and had filmed them with his telephone.

A third man was present that evening, but, indisposed, he had remained lying in an adjoining room.

The victim had filed a complaint the next morning, saying he felt forced to have sex.

The defendants had claimed that they had not noticed that the victim was disabled, although many witnesses claimed that his disability was very visible physically but also because of his way of speaking.

According to them, she was consenting.

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“She prostituted herself for cigarettes, launched Frédéric's lawyer, Me Martin Peyrichou.

He didn't offer her a relationship.

He was looking for cigarettes and if he had found any, she probably wouldn't have complained.

He is not the author of coercion or violence.

“His client, who appeared free after spending two years in pre-trial detention, will not return to the cell.

He was sentenced to five years in prison, three of which were suspended.