“If I take the blow, I die”: a man sentenced to prison for domestic violence

“If I take the blow I die,” explains Joséphine* during her hearing, describing the horror that Patrick* put her through during one evening, but especially for more than a year. The forty-year-old has already been convicted of domestic violence, which earned him an electronic bracelet and a ban on contact with his ex-partner.

The relationship, which had lasted for several months already, took a turn in the summer of 2023. After Patrick’s infidelity, the couple deteriorated. Violence emerges and becomes more and more oppressive for Joséphine. Her partner regularly gets angry, pushes her against the wall, breaks things and hits the walls. Often, he throws her to the ground and hits hard next to her head, as if to threaten her. Beyond the physical violence, the Couserannais exerts psychological pressure, manipulates and blackmails so that she does not end their union. He harasses her by telephone if she does not answer him and prevents her from going to the police station. This affair, and the weight it exerts on Joséphine, pushes her to try to end her life.

Last November 8 was a turning point for the couple, after an argument, the man “lost a temper”, picked up the president, and pushed her on the sofa, threw shoes at her and insulted her as crazy. His partner comes out with bruises on her arm. Following these actions, she used the excuse of a work necessity to go to the gendarmerie. He joins her there to prevent her from filing a complaint for fear of ending up in prison. “You pulled her arm so that she got into the vehicle,” thunders the president.

“Violence is not proof of love”

The man with fifteen convictions in twenty years minimizes his actions throughout his exchange with the magistrates. Confronted with his threat “I’m going to smash you” by the president, he tries to justify his words: “It’s not meanness, I say the same thing to my son”, leaving the judges stunned in the face of this trivialization of violence. The Ariégeois evokes a complicated relationship, with communication problems but says he is in love. “Violence is not proof of love” fumes the magistrate. Joséphine, present at the hearing, is in tears when she hears Patrick.

The civil party’s lawyer speaks of a couple who “engulfed themselves in violence”. According to her, the victim had placed a lot of hope in the relationship. With her partner’s deceptions, she felt used. If she took so long to file a complaint, it’s because she didn’t want him to end up in prison because of her and to keep him away from his children. The civil party requests a ban on contact because Joséphine is afraid of him and wants to be protected.

For the prosecutor, in addition to the physical violence, the psychological control he had over her was dangerous. Patrick locked her in his home, deprived of a telephone: she was isolated from others, even socially. He requires 18 months in prison with a 6-month suspended sentence, accompanied by a ban on contact and appearing in the community and an obligation to provide care. For the defense lawyer, imprisoning this man, managing his own construction company, would cause him to lose his job. The court, endorsing the prosecutor’s submissions, sentenced Patrick to eighteen months in prison, including six months suspended.