A 28-year-old Tunisian migrant has been sentenced in France to 15 years in prison by the Seine-et-Marne Assize Court for the rape and kidnapping of a Ukrainian high school student in Meaux in June 2024.
The convicted man was already subject to a deportation order at the time of the attack and was known to authorities for prior offenses, including theft and sexual assault. He had previously received an 18-month suspended sentence after sexually assaulting two women in the Paris metro, and had been serving this sentence at the time of the rape.
As reported by Le Figaro, the attack took place on June 27, 2024, when the 15-year-old Ukrainian student, who had recently arrived in France with her mother after fleeing the Russian invasion of her home country, was approached by the man in Meaux. He led the high school student to his apartment in the city center for a drink.
Once inside the apartment, she was raped. While the attacker was in the shower, the girl managed to escape. Trapped behind a glass door at ground level, she began screaming for help. A passerby alerted another man, who broke the glass door to free her.
The victim and a woman who assisted her then took refuge in a nearby restaurant, where the girl called her mother, and witnesses contacted emergency services.
The victim was taken to the hospital for her injuries, and the local authorities arrested the suspect later the same day.
It later transpired that the Tunisian national had no right to be living in France and appeared 15 times in the police database for previous criminal offenses.
French media reported how the defendant stayed silent during the trial, but later admitted to using violence against the schoolgirl and to the kidnapping. He refused, however, to confess to the rape, although he accepted that the victim had not explicitly consented to sexual intercourse.
“This trial was highly anticipated by the victim but fell short of her expectations in terms of explanations. It’s somewhat frustrating and unsettling. We were hoping for at least some consideration,” the victim’s lawyer said following the sentencing.
During the trial, the now 17-year-old victim acknowledged that she had voluntarily accompanied the man to his apartment. She said she later felt deep remorse about the decision.
In addition to the lengthy custodial sentence, the Tunisian is also subject to a permanent ban from entering French territory.
More than 18 months after the attack, the victim remains on a waiting list to receive psychological counseling.
