A man described by his attackers as an “African type” has been convicted for beating and robbing 10 elderly French women in the north of Paris between April and August of this year. The ages of the women ranged between 61 and 93, and the thief, who already has a long criminal record, openly admitted to the robberies in court.
The women were typically targeted while they were coming home, with all the women describing a Black male approximately 1.89 meters tall, with a slim build. Often, he would follow them into their apartment buildings while pretending to visit a neighbor. Once inside the elevator or near an elevator, the man, identified as Yann M., would jump the women, rip their necklace off their throats with “great brutality,” and in most cases either choking them or throwing them violently around the apartment building or elevator.
Some of the women suffered serious injuries during the assaults, including a 63-year-old doctor, who was pushed so violently that she broke her thoracic vertebrae, which led to her being forced to take 60 days off of work. She also had to wear a medical corset for three months, which her relatives had to put on her every day.
According to French news outlet Valeurs Actuelles, in court in mid-November, the woman testified, stating: “It took me a long time to get back on my feet and go outside,” the victim told the court, adding: “And now, when I go out, I am hyper-vigilant.”
However, all of the victims suffered varying degree of injury during the violent robberies. They also lost a piece of jewelry or more, with some of the pieces given to them by deceased husbands. He refused during the trial to say what happened to the stolen items.
The prosecutors representing the women spoke of the psychological damage due to the attacks, stating: “These people, every time they return home, they think about the attack in what was supposed to be their cocoon, their den, their safe place. All that is over, because of you.”
Yann M. was open about his thefts, stating: “I regret my actions. I take responsibility for all my thefts.”
Yann B. comes from a large family in the famed multicultural Seine-Sant-Denis neighborhood. His own family, however, said that his claims of hardship are overblown. A relative said, “We don’t lack anything, everything is fine at home. He was even the most spoiled. He was spoiled rotten. That’s the problem. So these talks about poverty… and all that” are not true. While his father left while he was young, the family still had everything it needed, according to the relative, who also complained that their house was searched due to Yann B.’s actions, which reflects poorly on the whole family in the community and the family business.
The 30-year-old Yann B., who has 12 convictions in total for theft, fraud, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and extortion, claimed that the robberies were due to a drug debt worth €60,000. Yann B. claimed he had to repay the debt “in gold.” He said the women were picked out as targets and he was forced to rob them. Neither the judge or lawyers believed a word of it, and the judge said that even if it was true, it would only increase the chances that he would target more women for robberies in order to repay the debt. He never named the so-called men who were forcing him to pay the debt either.
He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison
