It took two days for the juvenile court, meeting in Coutances (Manche), to rule on the case. This Thursday, December 5 and Friday, December 6, 2024, the court tried a man, now aged 40, accused of sexual assault and rape when he was a minor.
The hearing took place under the regime of restricted publicity. The verdict was pronounced this Friday, December 6, 2024, at the end of the day.
Regarding the charge of rape, the forty-year-old was acquitted. The court reclassified the facts dating back to 2001 as sexual assault. The victim was then aged 10, when the accused was over 16. “Without calling into question the victim's word, taking into account her age at the time of the facts and her lack of knowledge in sexual matters, and the doubt having to benefit the accused, the court was not able to accept certain the existence of a penetration”, indicates Dominique Veillard, president of the Assize Court.
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-Three years of imprisonment, two of which were suspended
The second complainant reported sexual assaults, between 1998 and 1999, also in Nord-Cotentin. She was 11 years old at that time. For these facts, the accused was found guilty. “For several months, he forced her to touch her breasts and genitals during trips on the school bus,” establishes the Assize Court, which specifies that the victim's statements were corroborated by other accounts.
The man was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended.
