On Thursday, a 30-year-old Arab illegal immigrant without a permanent address was tried and found guilty in a fast track trial for sexual assault on a young woman in the city of in Valenciennes in the north of France.
The incident happened on Sunday, July 31, on the public highway near a bar in Valenciennes. The victim says she was accosted by a man holding a beer in his hand when she was leaving the bar to meet a friend at 4 a.m.
“He told me several times that I am beautiful. I was embarrassed. He asked me for my phone number and started to flirt with me,” the woman told investigators.
She pushed the suspect away, but he would not stop. He then grabbed her wrist, put his arm around her shoulders, kissed her full on the lips, and touched her breasts. The man then proceeded to lick her cheek, according to a report from French media outlet La Voix du Nord.
A municipal police patrol was approached by young people looking for an individual dressed in a dark T-shirt and green pants who had sexually assaulted their friend. The suspect was quickly arrested in a nearby street.
At the police station, the frightened young woman told police what had happened. The medical examination mentions post-traumatic stress with a one-day disability. In the court, through a translator in the Arab language, the perpetrator admits to drinking vodka and beers and using cannabis that evening. He says he does agree with the court’s interpretation of the incident.
“Yes, I kissed her, but out of friendship, she agreed. She even gave me her number,” the man claimed.
The man had been staying in France for two months, supposedly with friends. The prosecutor requested five months of imprisonment with continued detention.
The court finally sentenced the defendant to a five-month suspended sentence and ordered his registration in the file of sexual offenders. He will have to pay the victim €300 for non-pecuniary damage.
