Wednesday December 4, 2024, Jean-Paul Isaki was sentenced to 25 years of criminal imprisonment for the murder of Paula Migeon, killed on April 7, 2021. For this last day of the trial, the court heard the psychiatric expertise of the accused . For Doctor Raymond Videlaine, one thing is certain: Jean-Paul Isaki did not present any problems at the time of the events.
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It is in prison that Jean-Paul Isaki will sleep for the next 25 years. After three days of debate at the Marne Assize Court, Jean-Paul Isaki was found guilty, Wednesday December 4, 2024, of the murder of Paula Migeon, a transgender woman killed on April 7, 2021.
For Doctor Raymond Videlaine, who carried out two psychiatric assessments of the accused (the first in March 2021, three weeks before the facts with which he is accused and the second at the end of October 2024), one thing is certain: he did not present any disorder at the time of his act.
“I wake up and start making involuntary movements as if I’m being directed,” declared Jean-Paul Isaki, a native of Congo, during the psychiatric expertise carried out at the end of October 2024. At the start of the week, the accused declared that since March 2023, after an attack in detention, he saw demons and pigeons in mirrors. “Something happened after this attack, that’s for sure,” noted Raymond Videlaine. But of what nature? No one can answer this question. However, the African cultural question could be important in this matter. “We must understand that witchcraft in Africa is a social and cultural reality. Giving consideration to witchcraft can be irrational. In Africa, two worlds coexist: the visible and the invisible. The second represents the mystical world”, explains the expert psychiatrist.
To read : The suspect in the murder of Paula Migeon, killed because of her gender identity, says he is inhabited by demons
But what should we make of the psychiatric situation of the accused at the time of the facts? “Obviously, at that time, he did not present any problems“, said the psychiatric expert. So how can we explain his actions? “I remain convinced that Jean-Paul Isaki presents psychological disorders today, but that they are not at the origin of his actions”, concluded Doctor Raymond Videlaine.
However, the expert was unable to provide an answer on the sexual dimension of Jean-Paul Isaki’s actions. The court returned to a case, dated 2017, still under investigation, where the accused is indicted for attempted homicide of an escort girl who was transgender. Can we talk about ritual? “In these countries, homosexuals are demons to be eliminated,” reacts the president.
At the end of the morning, the pleadings of the civil parties began. “Laura asks me to send a message: that this trial has meaning. A particular meaning regarding the way in which the crimes were committed. It is not every day in our French justice system that we arrive at a hearing. judgment with this particular circumstance which relates to the gender identity of the victim”, declared Master Mourad Benkoussa.
Faced with silence, what do we do? We came to seek the truth”
Master Mourad BenkoussaFrance 3
He continues: “That’s the debate, gender identity and not sexual orientation”. “Paula was born in a man’s body, she was told that she was part of the masculine gender, except that very early on, she felt like a woman. She unfortunately felt the consequences through the rejection, the gaze of society”, he emphasizes, specifying: “We think that the accused is a homosexual who does not accept himself. But like any human being he has sexual urges that must be satisfied. So as he does not accept himself, the only way to be in the sexual pleasure is being with a transgender woman. That’s why he went there. That’s why this meeting took place.. Maître Mourad Benkoussa denounces the silence of the accused: “Faced with silence, what do we do? We came to seek the truth”.
It’s defense lawyer Jane Peissel’s turn to plead. “Mr. Isaki does not confide in anyone about his sexuality, because he did not have the courage. The expert psychiatrist did not understand what could have happened, the accused himself should not have understand what was happening that day, the day of the events”, she declared before the Court. His colleague, Maître Magou Soukouna, also lawyer for Jean-Paul Isaki, explains: “I think Jean-Paul is a repressed homosexual”. She adds: “He wants to convince himself that he is heterosexual when he knows deep down that he is homosexual. He is fighting against his nature, I think it is one of the most difficult things to do”.
After three hours of deliberation, Jean-Paul Isaki was sentenced to 25 years of criminal imprisonment, two thirds of which were secured. He will also have socio-judicial monitoring for five years after his release from prison. The prosecution had requested 30 years of criminal imprisonment against him, including a 20-year security period.
