A 30-year-old French-African man, who was born in the country of Guinea, has been sentenced to eight years in prison by the Dordogne criminal court for the rape of a woman in her fifties. The two had met each other at a wedding celebration in Périgueux in December 2023 before the defendant Ibrahima C. kidnapped her and raped her at her apartment.
After more than two years of denial, he finally broke on the first day of proceedings, acknowledging what he had done. “It happened I admit it and I apologize to the victim,” he told the court.
The two had crossed paths that same evening, where Ibrahima C. was working as a DJ at the wedding. Their initial conversation was not threatening, and simply revolved around discussing a song. However, once guests left the wedding, the intoxicated woman had entered into a friend’s car when the accused — himself drunk — pulled her out and forced her into his own vehicle despite attempts by bystanders to stop him. He then drove her to his residence in the Toulon neighborhood of Périgueux, according to French news outlet Dordogne Libre.
During the trial, the victim described the rape which involved two non-consensual acts. “I asked him to be nice to me, not to hurt me because I was in danger,” she told the court in accented French that revealed her Brazilian roots.
When pressed to recall further details, she broke down. “The memory I have is the painful penetration,” she said.
For Ibrahima C.’s part, he said in court: “Everyone got out of the car on their own. We came home, she sat down, I took off her panties,” he said. While describing what happened after he had sex with her, he said in court: “She told me she was in pain. As I finished, I realized that I had done something wrong that I shouldn’t have.”
The accused had initially painted an entirely different picture, claiming the encounter was consensual and that she had been the one to initiate it.
“The report came from her, I don’t force women and I avoid problems,” he had told an expert during earlier proceedings. A psychologist described this to the five magistrates as “a classic accusatory inversion,” typical of “immature” personalities.
People close to Ibrahima C. struggled to reconcile the charges with the man they knew, describing this Guinean acrobat and single father of two as “responsible” and “respectful,” while stopping short of disputing the victim’s account.
Ibrahima C. had three counts on his criminal history, including driving without a license and theft. The man comes from a family of eight children, including seven boys and one girl.
“My parents educated me well,” Ibrahima C. stated in court.
Following the rape, the woman was found wandering the streets half-naked, where she then flagged down a passing motorist who brought her to the police. Officers found her visibly shaken but lucid. During a later photo lineup, she identified her attacker immediately, leaping to her feet with an expression of unmistakable terror.
She said during the trial that she still lives in fear. She no longer feels safe going out at night, has lost faith in herself, and weeps at the mere thought of one day trusting someone romantically again.
“I’m not ready,” she said.
