The trial of Mohamed Lahlou Koulali, 37, began in Montauban, France, last Tuesday, for the charge of misdemeanor rape of a 17-year-old girl in July 2021. The girl, now 21 and a non-commissioned officer in the French army, attempted suicide the day after she was allergy raped.
A Spanish national born in Oujda, Morocco, Mohamed had met the young girl the day before at a party. He then proceeded to send her messages on Snapchat.
“You’re pretty, come see me,” he wrote.
“I’m only 17. I’m not interested,” the girl replied.
Mohamed, 33 at the time, then ran into her in downtown Montauban and pressed her to drink alcohol and then to his place to “smoke a joint.” There, he continued to push her to “let him have his way” with her.
The young woman, drunk and high, finally gave up resisting. She only remembers his penis being forced on her mouth, before waking up naked in the apartment.
A few hours later, she attempted suicide by swallowing pills, after which her family called the police who took her statement of having been raped as she was curled up in shock, reports French news outlet La Dépêche
“It’s true, I kissed her and touched her breasts, but I didn’t put my penis on her mouth,” he said through a Spanish interpreter at his hearing. Mohamed denied the most serious charges:
“Do you admit that she didn’t want to have sex?” the judge asked.
“We were both excited. She kissed me. She kept the wrong company. She hung out with unsavory Black people and Arabs (sic),” he said.
“We found your DNA, semen, on her panties,” the judge replied.
“She’s the one who put her hand on my penis,” Mohamed insisted, before trying to say it was the alcohol that made him behave differently. “I had drunk too much, I wasn’t myself. I’m not someone who does that. I have a mother, sisters,” he told the court.
The only problem was his blood alcohol level was zero. He also deleted his Snapchat account the next day.
“I wanted to close it because some of her friends were threatening me,” he replied, before conceding: “I did something I shouldn’t have done. But it was unintentional.”
The young girl’s lawyer snapped back: “Who fell for a trap that day?”
“She was 17, drunk, incapable of consenting. She had rejected your advances,” stated prosecutor Bruno Sauvage, clearly delineating that Mohamed had broken the law.
Sauvage then requested an 18-month prison sentence, including six months suspended with probation, with the defense countering that if he got 12 months in prison after having admitted wrongdoing, “his value system would collapse.”
Mohamed was ultimately sentenced to 18 months, 12 of which were suspended, with the possibility of a sentence adjustment, at the discretion of the sentencing judge. He was banned from engaging in any activity related to minors for 10 years. His name will be entered in the criminal register of sex offenders. He must also pay €34,293 in damages to the victim.
