While he appeared free before the criminal court and was about to be sentenced to a prison sentence, Mohamed K. took advantage of the suspension of the hearing to flee.
The case has all the makings of a bad thriller: a Marseille pimp, known to the authorities for his propensity to flee and now lost in the wild at the end of a legal procedure lengthened by a “oversight” of the criminal court. So many failures which allowed Mohamed K. to take off before his sentence of 44 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended on probation.
This leak, revealed by Provence and confirmed at Figaro from consistent sources, provoked anger among the civil parties. “It’s an incredible procedure”breathes Me Laurie Combes, lawyer for the victim of Mohamed K., outlining the contours of the case. On December 17, the man appeared before the Marseille criminal court for acts of “aggravated pimping” and violence accompanied by threats against his ex-partner whom he had met in the Nantes region in the summer of 2023.
As reported by our colleagues, this dangerous character quickly forced his victim into prostitution in exchange for a «protection» for her and her young daughter. An ordeal which lasted almost a year and ended in June 2024 thanks to the filing of a complaint by the young woman and the arrest of her ex-companion by the police.
Escape from a police station
Denying the facts with which he was then accused, Mohamed K. even managed to escape from the police station in which he was held in police custody before the confrontation with his victim. Caught a month later in Marseille, he was placed in pre-trial detention pending his immediate trial, relocated for the occasion to the Marseille city. “His repatriation presenting a risk, he was referred to Marseille”confirms Me Laurie Combes.
But the procedure, already lengthened by this first escape, got a little more bogged down at the end of the summer when Mohamed K.'s case was “lost” by Marseille magistrates. Enough to postpone the case once again and temporarily release the defendant, placed under judicial supervision pending his trial. “It was complicated to call my client to tell her that he had been released because his file had been lost by the court”the lawyer annoys.
On the big day, the man therefore appeared free and took advantage of the suspension of the hearing before the deliberations to leave the court and flee under the noses of the judges of the 11th criminal chamber B Bis, who were preparing to impose a prison sentence of two and a half years on him. “He escaped just before the end of the hearing, since he did not appear in restraint, as is the custom at the assizes”underlines the council which specifies that an arrest warrant has since been issued against Mohamed K. The man was still on the run this Monday.
Yet another injunction from justice
When asked, his lawyer, Me Sabrina Guers, indicated to the Figaro that his client had surely acted “under the influence of emotion”. “Given his profile, a deferred committal warrant could have been issued so that he prepares and presents himself spontaneously in prison”regrets the council, who specifies that his client is expected in court again next January, this time before the sentence enforcement judge.
This umpteenth injunction will surely not lessen the own pain of its victim, who is now trying to rebuild herself after a year of ordeal. “My client chose to move on and forget what happened. She stayed in her region and took charge of her life with her four-year-old daughter.assures Me Laurie Combes.
