An Afghan asylum seeker was sentenced to one year in prison without probation for sexually assaulting a young autistic woman at a festive Noz in Redon in October 2022.
“Today you apologize, but why, since you say you did nothing?” the presiding judge asked the 26-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who was on trial Monday, Feb. 27, for sexually assaulting a vulnerable person. The case involves a 29-year-old woman with autistic disorders whom he had met on October 23, 2022, at a fest-noz as part of the Bogue Festival in Redon.
That evening, she escapes her father’s supervision when he is talking to a friend. When she returns about 15 minutes later, she explains that she was raped by an unknown man in the toilet. She told the gendarmes that she was “kissed on the mouth by a man and pulled into the toilet,” where he grabbed her breasts and then punched her in the face and crotch. According to her, penetration also allegedly occurred. She repeats this at the hearing, where she is present with her parents.
(…) He adds, “I did not know that touching the breasts is forbidden in France.” And when he initially told investigators that he had not done anything, it was “because he was afraid of going to jail” and that it would harm his asylum claim, with the risk of being sent back to his country, where the Taliban rule. However, he said he “never forced” the young woman because he realized she was “mentally unstable.” Ouest-France