a couple convicted of aggravated pimping

On the night of October 31, 2024, a young woman was crying under a bus shelter in the town of Draveil. She is in distress. His face is swollen. A homeless man, the only real hero of this sordid story, took him to the hospital. Sarah* is heard by the doctors then by a police officer in a treatment room. She claims thatshe was kidnapped in an apartment to prostitute herself by a friend, also a sex worker, and her partner who acts as a bodyguard. She was beaten. The money from his passes was confiscated.

Ads placed on the sexemodel site

The judicial police investigators then went to a studio in Juvisy-sur-Orgerented on the Airbnb platform. There, they arrest Mélanie*, a young woman of 23, who lives with an uncle in Rueil-Malmaison, and a man who introduces himself as her boyfriend.

This man is John Paul V. He has already been sentenced to 9 years in prison for aggravated pimping. Suffering from a very rare genetic disease which affects his red blood cells, he benefited from a suspended sentence in 2023 due to his state of health. This procedure only applies to detainees in very rare cases, as Maître Brossier, his lawyer, pointed out during his pleading.

While in police custody, Mélanie confesses. The 23-year-old young woman has been working as a prostitute for several months. Her 4-year-old son was placed under the protection of child welfare. She meets him for supervised meetings once a week. She places ads on the sexemodel site, rents apartments, receives her clients and pays the proceeds of its services to Jean-Paul V. who ensures his protection.

The 29-year-old defendant sentenced to two years in prison

The latter introduces himself as her boyfriend, who was unaware of his activities. It was only very recently that he agreed to accompany her to help her, even if recent messages captured on his phone leave little doubt about the active role he played in this dark trade.

Sarah, the victim who triggered this flagrante delicto procedure, has left the hospital. She will never be officially heard by investigators. She is even absent from the hearing this Friday, January 10, 2025. In her box, Mélanie partly returns to her first statements, exonerating his companionin order to reduce his sentence. But the ironic pout that she struggles to hide when the 29-year-old man talks about an argument between two rival prostitutes that he allegedly separated, weakens her defense.

During his requisitions, the public prosecutor did not wish to burden the young woman “in view of what she had endured”. He focused on John Paul V. “With his judicial past, he couldn't ignore anything. He reads the meters. He does not hesitate to use violence,” he said, demanding 4 years of imprisonment against him.

Maître Brossier, his lawyer, stressed that many basic checks were not carried out the day after his arrest, such as interviewing the victim before his flight. Jean-Paul V. will pass the next two years behind bars. Mélanie was sentenced to a lighter sentence, which she will serve under judicial supervision.

*First names have been changed.

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