Yusuf * is no longer there, died under the blows and jolts of a malicious papa three and a half years ago. The 11-month-old Congolese boy will not come back. Justice was done to him this Thursday. The verdict fell in the middle of an audience that held his breath. Who brutalized this child to death on Monday January 16, 2017? To this question, the Lausanne Criminal Court replied. Madam knew nothing, a priori, of the mistreatment that her ex-spouse subjected to their child in his absence, although she was herself struck by the latter until the birth of the baby. She loved her companion, trusted him and believed, at the time, in his explanations, however fragile.
He acted alone
For the Court, the father acted alone, even before the tragedy and this, from September 9, 2016, while Yusuf, very premature, can finally go home after seven months of hospitalization. Arm and shoulder fractures, torn fingernail, scratches, bruises and shaking. Until the shaking too much, the one that will kill. If the medical experts could not say which of the two parents attacked the small, they were able to confirm the diagnosis of the shaken baby and especially to say when the child underwent the fatal salvo: from a few minutes to a few hours before papa’s call at 144 at 5:42 p.m. In other words, they categorically established the time slot between 2 p.m. and 5:40 p.m. during which the baby was left alone with his father, while his mother had gone to the hairdresser.
6 years in prison
Taking into account a decrease in average responsibility and a high risk of recidivism, the father receives a firm sentence of 6 years for homicide by negligence, exposure, serious bodily injury, qualified simple bodily injury and violation of the duty to assistance or education. A conviction that halves what prosecutor Jérémie Müller had requested, namely 12 years’ imprisonment. The judges did not follow him on internment.
This sanction also includes the second case alleged against the accused. In May 2018, released one month after the death of Yusuf, a nursing assistant in EMS, the Congolese had burned a resident to the 2nd degree during a shower, to the point of being life-threatening. There too, the court believes in this version of the accusation: the defendant attacked this nonagenarian well by directing a jet of hot water on her.
Released from negligent homicide
Contrary to what the Public Prosecutor recommended, the Criminal Court exonerates the mother who has also always disputed. In view of the tragic circumstances, the judges chose to exempt it from the classification as a violation of the duty of assistance or education. She was released from the charges of homicide by negligence, serious bodily harm and qualified simple bodily harm. She was also fired for having received and transferred via WhatsApp three videos of sex acts with children and two videos of extreme violence against children. The prosecution had therefore retained the depiction of violence and pornography. For this, she received a 15-day fine of 30 francs suspended sentence.
Evelyne Emeri
* Borrowed name
Created: 04.06.2020, 12h40
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