Salim Berada, the “Tinder rapist”, as he was nicknamed by the French press, has appealed last week’s court ruling. Based on this, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, as reported by Agence France-Presse, citing his lawyers.
Irina Kratz and Ambroise Vienne-Leguet did not want to comment on this development.
The former photographer, aged 38, was convicted last Friday by a Paris criminal court of raping and sexually assaulting 15 women he had met through social media and dating websites between 2014 and 2016. which he had lured to his house under the pretense of photographing them.
Berada disputed the facts during the two-week trial, claiming the relationships were consensual or did not even exist.
The developments in court
He was acquitted of two other women, who, unlike most of his victims, did not testify or appear at trial, with the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence and that he should be given reasonable doubt.
In reading the verdict, the president of the court Thierry Fusina underlined the “highly organized character”, a “proven methodology” and the “continuous nature of his crimes”, which he found “particularly disturbing”.
The prosecutor’s proposal
The prosecutor of the Paris criminal court had requested the imposition of a 19-year prison sentence against Salim Berada, known to the press as “the rapist of Tinder”. He is accused of raping or sexually assaulting 17 women between 2014 and 2016.
This is a very “serious” sentence, with a maximum of 20 years, for someone who “destroyed 17 lives”, said the public prosecutor, Philippe Courier.
This sentence is justified, according to him, by the number of victims this photographer, aged 38 today, lured into his home through dating websites. But, and the “dangerousness” of this “self-centered unsatisfied hunter”, who questioned all the facts.
In front of the plaintiffs who came to testify with their “wounds still open”, Salim Berada remained “rigid”, “having entrenched himself in the concrete shelter of his denial”, complained the general prosecutor.
The defendant, who offered photography sessions in his studio, which was located in his home, argued that all of these relationships were consensual.
The victims
The plaintiffs, most of whom were in their 20s at the time, have been in court every day to testify since the trial began on Monday.
They were present in the courtroom today, while the prosecutor revisited the story of each to describe the almost identical course of action of the accused, who came from Morocco to France at the age of 20.
“He is dangerous” because “he has no ability to introspect”, added the prosecutor, recalling that he has been prosecuted in another case for similar events. “How can we hope that he will change his behavior… He is not admitting anything.”
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