Le Figaro Bordeaux
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They are old pigs. They would ask me my age and I would say 18. Only one left because he didn't believe me. In truth, they don't care about my age, "says the victim, aged 14, in his hearings, to which Le Figaro had access. The facts, discovered by the national police of Bordeaux, date from this month of September, after the teenager decided to flee the family home. According to our information, confirmed by the Bordeaux prosecutor's office, the girl then prostitutes herself for "a friend", also a minor, to whom she pays 50% of her profits from the beginning of her elopement.
But the two teenagers end up "getting confused". Through a third party, the victim then meets Kenza G., aged in her twenties. The young woman, whose lawyer refused to answer our questions, rents him a hotel room and helps him publish an ad on (Sexmodel) a libertine ad site where the teenager claims to be of age. An online publication that allowed the national police of Bordeaux to identify the teenager wanted since her disappearance and to arrest, last Wednesday, two suspects, including Kenza G.. The first was not prosecuted at the end of his police custody while the latter was brought on Monday before the judicial court of Bordeaux.
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A client convinced that she was of legal age
Another man, Mohamoud H., suspected of being a client of the victim, appeared simultaneously. He denies having knowledge of the girl's age. "He was convinced that she was of age by the way she presents herself: very made up, dressed for circumstance, in a hotel room where she is alone and at night," explains Valentine Poret. No child pornography document was found during the searches at his client's home, also assures the lawyer, who nevertheless recognizes that the latter resorts to prostitution with women in their forties.
Disillusioned, the victim does not seem to be aware of the seriousness of the facts. "Bah you want me to do what to get money? I need money. For you it is not normal, but for me yes, "she retorts to the investigators who ask her if she understands that prostitution is not a trivial act. Before adding when questioned about the rental of the hotel room by Kenza G. and the suspect finally not prosecuted: "Still happy that they took a hotel room. They weren't going to make me sleep in the car." And when asked how she sees the future, the teenager still replies: "I don't know. I have to find a job where I earn as much." Asked several times, the victim's lawyer chose to reserve her answers to the Court.
A disillusioned victim
"In view of the context of the case", the Bordeaux prosecutor's office has requalified the case as a correctional court, while it could have been tried in criminal proceedings with regard to the age of the victim. A choice that "shocks" some of the lawyers involved. "The message sent by the justice system to the public and to young people must be that selling one's body is not a trivial act. Women of prostituting age should also not accept that their younger sisters do so," says Valentine Poret.
The trial was adjourned to 5 December at the request of the defendant, accused of aggravated procuring of a minor between 15 and 18 years of age. Lawyers, if they wish to plead it, are entitled to request the reclassification of the case as criminal. Kenza G. is in pre-trial detention and must be given the mandatory psychological assessment, which was not given to her prior to her immediate appearance. The alleged client is free and without judicial review pending the next hearing.
