Sometimes the French criminal system moves quickly. Just last week, a migrant man with a deportation order was arrested for sexually assaulting three underage boys in Paris. Now, he has already been sentenced to four years in prison.
The first incident took place on Nov. 18, 2022, in the early morning, when the 20-year-old migrant approached a 16-year-old outside his high school. The migrant threatened him with a sharp object and stated he “also had a 9mm pistol” on him. The attacker then dragged the teenager away and groped his crotch.
Less than an hour later, another 16-year-old was subjected to the same acts. The next day, the perpetrator was arrested in the process of sexually assaulting a third young man at Rueil-Malmaison in the Hauts-de-Seine district.
A police analysis found the attacker was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, according to a report from Actu Paris.
The migrant was already tried a few days after his arrest, on Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in a Paris court. He was sentenced to four years in prison for sexual assaults committed with a weapon, as well as a 10-year ban from French territory.
At the hearing, the accused, aged 24, fiercely denied the accusations.
“They asked me for a cigarette, I didn’t even touch them,” he said in a pleading tone through his interpreter.
“So if I understand correctly, everyone is lying in this story,” the prosecutor replied sarcastically. The defendant, who was subject to an Obligation to Leave the French Territory (OQTF), nevertheless admitted to giving the third victim a “kiss.”
The defense argued that there were many unclear elements of the case.
“They talk about being threatened with a knife, but all that was found on my client was a kind of tweezers. Also, there is no video surveillance to support what the victims said. Concerning the veracity of the remarks, the lawyer evoked “a probable denial on the part of the client of his homosexuality.”
The issue of migrants who commit crimes despite being subject to deportation orders has plagued France as of late. The most notable case was that of 12-year-old Parisian girl Lola, who was raped, murdered, and stuffed in a suitcase by an Algerian migrant subject to a deportation order. Data from the government shows that only 0.2 percent of Algerian migrants given such an order are actually deported.