Guilty of "usual violence" and "acts of torture and barbarism", the stepmother of a six-year-old girl and her father were sentenced to 12 years and 8 years imprisonment respectively.

The girl, aged six and a half at the time of the incident, "was tied up, gagged, deprived of sleep, deprived of going to the toilet and of food".

Deprivation of food, sleep and even going to the toilet: the Yonne Assize Court on Thursday sentenced to 12 years of criminal imprisonment the stepmother of a six-year-old girl, and to 8 years her father , for "torture and barbarism".

The jurors recognized the stepmother, Nadège Cousin, and the father, Sirile Blanchet, both guilty of "usual violence", from 2015 to 2018, and of "acts of torture and barbarism", in April 2018, on the nine-year-old girl.

"Tied up, gagged, deprived of sleep, going to the bathroom and food"

The sentence is lower than the requisitions of the prosecution, which had requested 14 years for Nadège Cousin and 12 for the father.

The girl, six and a half years old at the time of the facts, "was tied up, gagged, deprived of sleep, deprived of going to the toilet and of food", criticized Advocate General Pierrick Giangualano in his requisitions.

In April 2018, when the gendarmes tried to see the child, they were greeted by the older brother, aged 12, who threatened them with a metal bar, and the girl's mother-in-law threw her into the street, half-dressed, throwing to the police: "You want it, well hold!".

Traces of lacerations and numerous bruises 

His wrists, ankles, showed signs of laceration and numerous bruises covered his unusually thin body.

She owed her "survival" only to the school canteen;

she was tied for two hours with her arms in the air, on tiptoes;

she was "insulted, deprived of games and speech", listed the attorney general.

The father recognized "the scarf placed at the back of her mouth so that she does not cry", the showers "once a week" and "the dog's leash with which she was shackled on the bunk bed. ". 

>> READ ALSO -

 North: six people indicted for "torture and barbarity" on a 2 year old baby

Denouncing the "criminal perversity" of Nadège Cousin, the main accused, the public prosecutor portrayed a "tyrannical" and "cold" woman, who remained completely impassive to the verdict.

"I have a lot of remorse," she had nevertheless whispered at the end of the trial.

As for the father, he acted "out of love" for his companion, but was nonetheless "active", "approving" even, according to the attorney general.

The family was in "misery", he admits, but to regard this as a mitigating circumstance would be "an insult to the mass of poor people who love their children".

The "failure" of social services 

Julien Lewden, lawyer for Nadège Cousin, on the other hand denounced the "failure" of the social services of the time which had already placed the girl in 2015 but without intervening thereafter, despite "recurring alerts".

The lawyer also pleaded the "traumatic childhood past" of Nadège Cousin, whose parents were already "mistreating", and the psychological fragility of his client.

Michèle Duffaut, lawyer for Sirile Blanchet, wanted to describe a "good father", "terribly immature and completely submissive", who fell "under the thumb" of his new companion.

He "let it happen but he did not intend," assured the lawyer.