the essential
The maximum sentence, i.e. 20 years of criminal imprisonment, was pronounced on June 12 by the Epinal children’s court against the teenager prosecuted for the murder of five-year-old Rose in Rambervillers (Vosges) in April 2023. A young man with a disturbing profile.
The teenager prosecuted for the murder of five-year-old Rose in Rambervillers (Vosges) in April 2023 was sentenced on Wednesday to the maximum sentence, i.e. 20 years of criminal imprisonment by the Epinal children’s court.
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Maximum penalty for a minor
The young man, whose “disturbing” personality brings him closer, according to an expert, to the serial killer Francis Heaulme, was also sentenced to 20 years of socio-judicial supervision, again the maximum duration authorized for a minor.
At the end of his detention and for 20 years, he will be prohibited from entering into contact with minors, from appearing in the Vosges, and will be required to receive treatment. This sentence, announced publicly by the president after more than an hour of deliberation, is in accordance with the prosecution’s requisitions. At the announcement, the teenager did not react and confirmed to the president of the court that he understood his sentence. “You are aware that this does not make you your daughter,” the president declared to the girl’s family at the end of the hearing. “Yes, we are aware of that,” replied the mother.
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“We are going to wait to come back down, to review all the elements a little, and to review the avenues of appeal with the client, it is a 15-year-old child who has just been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment,” said reacted one of the teenager’s lawyers, Johann Saint-Dizier.
“For the moment, he is not able to integrate everything that has just happened, so we must also take the time to think, guilt was not discussed, today that is the question of the alteration of discernment which was ruled out by the court, where we question ourselves”, added his colleague, Elise Lemelle.
“When he gets out, he’s going to start again.”
Rose’s father spoke briefly about his concern about the repetition of the facts when the teenager was released from prison. Me Stéphane Giuranna, lawyer for the girl’s parents, explained that they “are satisfied, and then at the same time, they say that it will not bring their daughter back.” The council spoke of a “failure” and said it was “sad” after this trial, which was held behind closed doors. “How sad, when you have a 16-year-old kid who has just received 20 years of criminal imprisonment and 20 years of socio-judicial supervision. There has never been anything above,” he said. continued, indicating that such a sentence is “extremely rare. And on the other hand, you know that it’s not even enough because when he gets out, he’s going to do it again.”
“I think no one won, no one lost […] and that does not resolve the problems that arise for the future,” added his colleague David Collot.
Already convicted of rape and sexual assault
Despite his young age, the 16-year-old defendant had already been convicted in March of rape and sexual assault on two boys aged 11 and 12 in a previous case and he is the subject of a complaint for rape in another case. All acts committed in February 2022.
The psychiatric assessments, at the center of the debates before the pleadings, are “catastrophic, worrying”, according to Me Giuranna. “When we ask the experts whether there is an ounce of optimism… There is none, there is nothing,” he continued. “Everyone unanimously says that he is perverted, sadistic, that he will do it again. There is nothing to do. The only thing to do is to monitor him, lock him up. As a lawyer, I I have a hard time hearing that.”
A premeditated act
On Tuesday, a first psychiatrist was interviewed, “one of the only ones” to have noted the alteration of the young man’s discernment during the events. A point of view to which the lawyers of the civil parties opposed and which was not accepted by the court. The teenager admitted to having wanted to kill the little girl on April 25, 2023: he had lured her to his mother’s apartment in Rambervillers on the pretext of showing her a kitten. The child’s body was found in a trash bag, naked, less than an hour after his parents reported his disappearance, in the apartment belonging to the suspect’s mother.
The young man admitted to having killed the little girl and according to Me Collot, he also admitted, on Tuesday, “that he would probably have masturbated after committing the murder”, “which would explain why his sperm could have been found on Rose’s sweater.
The teenager has 10 days to appeal.
