Justice has ruled in a case which shocked Missillac, a small town in Loire-Atlantique. Tiffany B., a 30-year-old woman, was sentenced to 12 years of criminal imprisonment by the Nantes Assize Court for acts of torture and barbarity inflicted on her partner's youngest daughter. This child, only 6 years old at the time of the events, had become her mother-in-law's scapegoat. The girl's father was also sentenced to five years in prison for failure to assist a person in danger and deprivation of care.
Extreme violence causing serious after-effects
On April 7, 2021, Tiffany B. scalded the girl by holding her for ten seconds in a bathtub filled with water at 59°C. As reported by Le Parisien, the child, unable to walk for nine days, had to be carried for her basic needs. Hospitalized for lesions on her legs, she was initially presented as a victim of “sunburn” by her father. However, doctors, alarmed by suspicious injuries, reported the situation to the Saint-Nazaire public prosecutor's office.
A daily life of abuse and isolation
The investigation revealed a daily life of deprivation and humiliation for the little girl. Considered a “liar” and “thief” by her stepmother, she starved, rummaged through trash and stole food from school. While the family enjoyed meals like fast food, they were only allowed a bowl of soup. Often locked up, isolated from others and even excluded from family celebrations, she suffered cruel punishments, such as cold showers and pretending to fall down stairs. This abuse had a lasting impact on the child, who developed a fear of stairs and water.
A shared responsibility
The girl's father, Steve D., was also found guilty for his passive role in this drama. He would have, according to the prosecution, condoned the actions of his partner, participating in the exclusion of his daughter. Despite his defense citing excessive naivety and manipulation by Tiffany B., the court found that he had failed in his duty of protection. The sentence handed down against him exceeds the requirements of the prosecution, which had requested three years and two years of probation.
-A severe sentence for Tiffany B.
In pre-trial detention for two years before being released in 2023, Tiffany B. saw the Assize Court reject any attempt to minimize her actions. For the attorney general, the abuse inflicted on the child had become a real “ritual” shared between the two adults. If the representative of the prosecution wanted to clarify that the child was not a “child martyr” in the legal sense of the term, she firmly denounced the extent of the violence suffered.
A shattered childhood, but a future to rebuild
Now aged 10, the girl lives far from her former tormentors. While these convictions mark an important step in his journey, the physical and psychological after-effects of these years of abuse remain profound. The case is a tragic reminder of the need for vigilance in the face of distress signals from children in danger.
