The case resulted in a change in the consent threshold for minors.
A man was sentenced Friday to six years in prison and imprisoned by the Yvelines Assize Court of Appeal, found guilty of having raped Sarah, the assumed first name of an 11-year-old girl, in 2017.
Now 35 years old, he appeared free in court since Tuesday after being released in November.
He had served a year in detention after his first conviction in November 2022 to eight years of imprisonment by the Val-d'Oise departmental criminal court.
The decision of the Assize Court, after six hours of deliberation, fell short of the requests of the attorney general who had requested eight years of imprisonment.
The court issued a warrant of committal to the accused.
“This sentence demonstrates the ambiguity of this procedure,” said his lawyer, Me Gustave Charvet.
The trial was held behind closed doors at the request of the civil party.
Now an adult, Sarah was surrounded by her parents and her psychologist at the opening of the trial.
Judged according to the old law
In April 2017, in a park near her home in Montmagny (Val-d'Oise), the 11-year-old schoolgirl spoke with this 28-year-old man who had already approached her two weeks earlier.
Father of a nine-year-old child, the latter had invited her to follow him to his building.
Two sexual acts, without physical violence, then took place in the common areas and the man's apartment.
As she left the building, she called her mother, telling her that she had been raped.
This affair became emblematic after the controversy sparked by the first qualifications.
The man was initially prosecuted for “sexual assault” before an investigation was opened for “rape of a minor”.
Also read: How the Sarah affair contributed to setting the threshold for sexual consent at 15
A debate on the age of consent of minors then began, leading in April 2021 to the promulgation of a new law.
Since then, an adult cannot rely on the sexual consent of a minor if he or she is under 15 years old (or under 18 years old in the case of incest).
The accused was, however, judged according to the old law, the more severe criminal law not being retroactive.