The man convicted of murdering a 22-year-old French woman whose body was discovered in an abandoned church in northern Italy has been spared a life sentence, receiving 25 years in prison despite a history of violence and a restraining order against him.
Sohaïb Teima, 24, was sentenced by the Aosta Court of Assizes over the killing of Auriane Laisné in April 2024. As reported by Actu, the young woman from the Lyon metropolitan area had been drugged with benzodiazepines before being taken to the remote location and stabbed multiple times.
Her body was found on April 5, 2024, inside an abandoned church above La Salle. According to La Stampa, she suffered fatal stab wounds to the neck and abdomen.
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment. Public prosecutor Manlio D’Ambrosi told the court that investigators had built a “logical, coherent, precise, and timely reconstruction of the facts,” rejecting defense claims that the case was circumstantial. He said the investigation had produced “serious evidence” and dismissed suggestions that expert conclusions had been influenced.
Teima had been in a relationship with the victim and had already been the subject of multiple complaints for violence. He was under a restraining order prohibiting contact with Laisné, yet the pair had still been seen together shortly before the killing.
Ten days before the murder, the couple was stopped at the Mont Blanc Tunnel, but the restriction did not appear in the system, allowing them to continue their journey together.
Following the killing, Teima fled and was later arrested in Lyon near Perrache before being extradited to Italy. He also faced additional proceedings for violent offenses in Grenoble after the murder.
Despite the prosecution’s request for a life sentence, the court handed down a 25-year term. Defense lawyer Luca Tommaso Calabrò said the legal team was “only half satisfied,” arguing that life imprisonment would have been disproportionate while maintaining his client’s innocence.
The victim’s family described the trial as deeply painful. The family’s lawyer said, “It is difficult to be here today, and all our thoughts are with Auriane on what would have been her 24th birthday.”
