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The stuttered apologies on the final morning of the hearing did not mitigate the jury's verdict.
The intention of Benjamin C. to kill Romane, 21, deeply stabbed in the femoral artery while celebrating deconfinement at home with friends, which the defense disputed, was however retained.
After more than four hours of deliberation, the 42-year-old man was sentenced to 14 years of criminal imprisonment by the Lyon Assize Court, following the requisitions of the public prosecutor.
He was found guilty of intentional violence resulting in death without intention to give it to the young girl and of intentional violence towards his friends.
“Major Personality Disorders”
"A sentence that will never be equal to that of the victim's family
," said the president of the court, in front of relatives who quickly left the courtroom after the verdict.
Sentence which takes into account the
“major personality disorders”
affecting the defendant, according to the president who requested an obligation of care.
The sentence will become effective after ten days in the absence of appeal.
Stopped behind his screen
On May 16, 2020, Benjamin C. left his online scrabble game, overwhelmed.
He knocks on the door of the apartment where the young Romane, student in BTS optics in Lyon, celebrates the deconfinement with her roommate and some friends.
A “ quiet
” evening
with background music, according to witnesses and neighbors.
"Explosion of Violence"
Too much for the scrabble fan.
He sinks into
"an explosion of violence at the door of the apartment"
, comments the president of the court.
As the girl opens the door for him, he stabs her in the groin, hitting the femoral artery, and goes back home.
Romane bleeds out.
She died two days later in hospital.
His murderer had been arrested behind his screen.
It was the girl's friends who alerted the emergency services.
Friends who, present or not on the evening of the tragedy, came in large numbers to the 24 columns three years later.
The pain still engraved on the face, as on that of the girl's family.
