A young man was sentenced Monday, in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), to twenty-five years imprisonment for having kicked his 21-year-old girlfriend, Aissatou Sow, in the head in 2016, on background of sickly jealousy.
The Assize Court, which did not accept the premeditation, found guilty of murder Gianni Drissi, 24, already convicted of 17 acts including robbery with violence. The sentence is in accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution.
We pronounce the word feminicide and no longer crime of passion
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“It is a great relief”, declared after the verdict Noël Agossa, uncle of Aissatou Sow and president of an association for the defense of victims of femicide, welcoming that “in a court, we pronounce the word feminicide and not plus crime of passion “.
After having assured regret his gesture during the day by evoking his “shame” of the man he was, the accused did an about-face after the announcement of his conviction, which drew applause in the room. He then lowered his mask and cursed the family of the victim and her friends, present during the three days of the trial. “Take a good look at me, don’t worry,” he said threateningly to the victim’s brother. “Of course I will appeal,” he repeated three times, departing from the calm he observed during the hearing. “I had a vision of things, of my wife (…) which was bad”, he had however said earlier in the day.
“In the name of Allah, you wanted to go to a club with guys, I know everything, I will kill you”
The facts date back to September 2016. Aissatou Sow then spends the evening with friends in a bar, which triggers a crisis of jealousy in Gianni Drissi, which he is accustomed to, according to the prosecution. He then sends her a 40-second video on which, visibly drunk, he loads a revolver and threatens the young woman: “In the name of Allah, you wanted to go clubbing with guys, I know everything , I’m going to kill you”.
Accompanied during the night by a friend, Aissatou is caught on the third floor of her building in Valenton (Val-de-Marne) by Gianni Drissi. He slaps her “very, very violent” according to his words, destabilizing the young woman who falls while bumping her head on the elevator. While she is on the ground, he kicks her several times in the head, with “the intention to kill”, said the general counsel on Monday, recalling that the accused practiced kickboxing and “that he knew what he was doing “. “There was blood everywhere” in particular “towards the head” of the victim, testified Monday one of the neighbors. Taken in serious condition to hospital, Aissatou Sow died from her injuries a month and a half later.
A “joyful” young woman who “loved life and who lived a” real ordeal “
The young woman had never lodged a complaint against her boyfriend with whom she had been for six years, despite the recurring violence reported by those around her, but two handrails had been filed in 2014. “The crime is already terrible but we want it. make it even more terrible “, denounced during his pleading his counsel Me Albane Sciaraffa, accusing the lawyers of the civil parties of” delivering the worst possible version “of the story. The lawyer for Aissatou’s family, Me Caroline Toby, had portrayed a “joyful” young woman who “loved life, (…) to dance and to make herself beautiful” and who lived a “real ordeal”.
This trial was held in front of a full house, including Monday despite the confinement. A “Justice for Aissatou” online petition had collected more than 40,000 signatures on Monday. In 2019, 146 women were killed by their spouse or ex-partner, 25 more than the previous year, according to the latest official figures.
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