Four months of suspended prison sentencethis is the sentence that Cynthia Dif received before the judicial court of Compiègnethis Monday, June 25. This housewife was continued for some violence and deprivation of care. At the end of the hearing, she was found guilty violence, not deprivation of care.
Death threats
On January 21, the defendant’s daughter confided in her class representative at her college. The latter alerts the school nurse. The victim is then interviewed by the school nurse and a social worker and tells her version of the facts.
The child reports having suffered violence a fortnight earlier. For a trivial matter of a cell phone, she would have been grabbed by the throat. She also reports threats. “I’ll fuck you up”, “I’ll kill you”, these were the words addressed to the little girl. She also recounts the slaps she received as punishment.
Holding her over a puddle of urine
Seen by a forensic doctor, the child has no physical injuries, but the doctor notes the significant psychological impact on the victim. During a psychiatric assessment, the expert notes the coherence and credibility of the girl’s speech, as well as her anxiety.
Confronted with her daughter’s version, Cynthia Dif refutes any violence. “From the beginning, I have said it…. I never grabbed her by the throat. The only thing I did was put his head over a puddle of pee.”
His daughter also told investigators about this scene. She reports that at night in the apartment, her room is under surveillance. Cameras and an alarm have been installed. “At night, you can’t go pee.” She then confides that she stood and peed on herself. And when the mother realized it the next day, she put his head above the puddle of urine.
Children filmed in their room
Another fact recognized by the mother, this moment when she grabs her daughter by the chin. Cynthia Dif explains herself in court. “I grabbed her by the chin. I had banned her from going on social media and I took her phone and found messages where she was insulting me. I told him that I was his mother and that a mother is self-respecting.”
Representing the little girl, Me Emilie Hennique strongly condemns the defendant’s education methods. For her, these children “were assimilated to animals”. As for putting cameras in children’s rooms, she says that this already constitutes violence.
The public prosecutor agrees and goes further. “We don’t film children in their bedroom, their only private space.” She also notes the departure of the defendant’s other daughter. “She left home at 13 to live with her grandmother. It is a total abandonment of parental authority.”
“An overwhelmed single mother” according to her lawyer
She requires a 6-month prison sentence against him with a two-year probationary suspension.
But for the defense lawyer, Me Alexandre Anthony regrets that “the taking into account of the children’s words (is) unlimited in this case, but that of the mother is inaudible”. As for the presence of cameras, he recalls that his client installed them because her daughter took a knife to run behind her partner’s son. He requests release, while recognizing that his client is “a single mother who has been overwhelmed”.
At the end of the hearing, the defendant was convicted for the violence but not for the acts of deprivation of care. She received a 4-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 250 euros. She will also have to complete a parenting course at her own expense.
Also on the dock was Kelly Piquet, Cynthia Dif’s partner at the time of the events. Prosecuted for deprivation of care, she was acquitted at the end of the hearing.
