Reims, December 1, 2016. Anonymous people placed candles in memory of little Tony, 3, who died under the blows of his stepfather.
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François Nascimbeni / AFP
Loïc Vantal and Caroline Létoile appeared all week before the Assize Court of Marne for the death of little Tony, 3, in November 2016.
The boy succumbed to a series of abominable blows from his stepfather, Loïc Vantal.
His mother did not intervene.
The Reims prosecutor had requested the maximum penalties against them after five trying days of hearing.
At the Assize Court of Marne, in Reims,
It was therefore not until the last day that Loïc Vantal and Caroline Létoile pronounced Tony's first name with a little tenderness.
The very last moment before the jury retires to deliberate.
"Tony, I love you and I will always love you…" his mother sobbed at the bar.
"I will always think of Tony", for his part, assured Loïc Vantal.
A controlled exercise of contrition that worked on the jurors.
The Marne Assize Court handed down weaker sentences than those required against the former couple tried since Monday for the atrocious death of the three-year-old boy.
Found guilty of "willful violence", Loïc Vantal was sentenced to twenty years of criminal imprisonment, including a two-thirds security period.
Accused of the only offenses of "non-denunciation of ill-treatment" and "non-assistance to a person in danger", Caroline Létoile receives a four-year prison sentence, one of which is suspended.
The Assize Court did not issue a committal warrant against him.
In other words, she will not sleep in jail this Friday night.
... / ... More information to come on 20minutes.fr
Relive the trial on our journalist's Twitter account: @vvantighem
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