Dzemal Dautovic, 25, was sentenced this Friday evening to thirteen years of criminal imprisonment by the Yvelines Assize Court, after 10 hours of deliberation.
He had been on trial in Versailles since January 29 for having caused the death of Mehdi Benbachir, 23, a man he suspected of prostituting his partner.
On January 21, 2021, Dzemal arrived in Sartrouville with a hunting knife.
Affected by the renal artery, the victim was carried away by hemorrhage at the foot of a building in the City of India.
Prosecuted for “violence with a weapon leading to death without intention of causing it”, Dzemal Dautovic took refuge behind an excuse of “self-defense”, put forward since the start of the trial by Yassine Bouzrou, his lawyer.
He had recognized his partner on offers of prostitution
“My client always said that he was alone against two people who beat him, including his girlfriend's pimp.
His only option to protect his life, which he considered in danger, was to defend himself using his knife, the lawyer explained at the bar.
He used a single knife and then stayed there for 18 minutes, which shows that he did not think he had seriously injured Mehdi Benbachir.
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On January 21, convinced that his partner, Melissa, 18 years old at the time, was a prostitute, Dzemal posed as a client by dialing the telephone number of a classified ad, in which he recognized the body of the young lady.
An appointment is made in a building in the City of India.
Melissa is not here.
He manages to reach her by phone and explains where he is.
Then he found himself faced with two individuals who allegedly hit him.
At his belt, a hunting dagger, with a 17 cm blade.
If he took it out, it was to defend himself, he assured.
Given the circumstances, “difficult to invoke self-defense”
“Being a judge is not about chatting in the café across the street.
Self-defense is a concept that must be handled with care, insisted the attorney general, Julien Eyraud, mid-week.
When you are slapped and you respond with a hunting knife, it is difficult to claim self-defense.
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“His objective was solely to extract the woman he loved from a prostitution network, which explains the animosity and the violence against which he had to defend himself,” persisted Me Yassine Bouzrou.
“He took a man’s life.
Unfortunately, no sentence will be able to ease the pain of my clients,” commented Lydia Boudriche, the lawyer for the civil parties, this Friday evening.