A Jordanian migrant, Faïd A., was sentenced to 11 years in prison, plus a ban on entering French territory, for the rape of an unconscious woman inside a hospital emergency room. The court found that his actions were premeditated.
The case began two years ago, on Oct. 27, 2022, when the 34-year-old victim was attending a party on the Seine after a day filled with job interviews. She became quite intoxicated after barely eating anything all day, and at around 1:00 a.m., she walked off a party barge, the Rosa Bonheur, and hit her head on the dock, losing consciousness. Two men approached to help, but one of them, 24-year-old Faid A., apparently looked at the woman “like a piece of meat,” according to the other man, who was the owner and also a bouncer at the party barge.
“He looked at her like a starving man. It was at that moment, while waiting for the firefighters, that I had an exchange with him, telling him to leave, because I knew very well what he intended to do. He smiled at me and told me that if I touched him, he would call the police,” said the owner, according to French newspaper Le Figaro.
This is the moment Jordanian rapist Faid A. snuck into the ER room of his 34-year-old French victim and brutally raped her in Cochin Hospital in Paris.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) November 8, 2024
"Now, I am afraid when I sleep. I am afraid of what will happen to me when I wake up," the victim testified in court.
The case… pic.twitter.com/NltefDmGd1
After the woman was transported to an emergency room at Cochin Hospital, Faid A. remained near the party barge and “fainted” shortly thereafter. The lawyers for the woman argued this was a ploy in order to be transported to the same hospital as his victim. Once at the hospital, the victim woke up to discover the man had pushed several fingers inside her.
“He was going back and forth like a madman, looking at me and smiling. It was the pain that woke me up and his smile traumatized me,” the victim testified.
Faid A. reacted to her waking up by fleeing the room, along with stealing her bank card.
Surveillance footage inside the hospital recorded the man leaving the room. Police arrested the man shortly after.
In court, it was determined the rape was a premeditated crime. In addition, Faid A. pretended to need a wheelchair, but once the assault on the woman began, he could suddenly walk. He also claimed to emergency services that he was very drunk and had a whole bottle of whiskey, which was used as justification for his hospital trip. However, when police found him, he had no alcohol in his blood whatsoever. He also offered no counter to this argument during his defense trial and remained silent throughout the process.
Police do not know his true identity. He was either born in Jordan or Egypt, and is in France illegally. He has ten different aliases, has received four deportation orders, and was already indicted for rape in the past. He also has numerous theft convictions.
The victim expressed support for the sentence but said she will be traumatized for the rest of her life.
According to her own testimony, she may have trouble looking at Arab men who look like her attacker.
“I understand all the consequences of rape…I come across people who look like my attacker and I get very stressed. It’s the same at the restaurant, I’m afraid of people who look like him. On another level, I no longer look at men as before. Now, men disgust me, scare me… There was also a physical transformation. I can’t stand doing my hair anymore. Before I was very flirtatious, but I don’t do it anymore. I can’t stand wearing makeup or dressing up sexy. I can’t stand people looking at me with attraction. I don’t go out anymore because I cry a lot, so I don’t want to see anyone anymore… I’ve gained a lot of weight, I’ve put on 7 kilograms since the assault,” she said earlier in the trial.
Later, she had ballooned by 20 kilograms, equaling 44 pounds, when speaking about the case.
Speaking of the man’s plot to rape her, she said, “Now, I am afraid when I sleep. I am afraid of what will happen to me when I wake up.”