A 45-year-old man was sentenced by the criminal court to two years in prison, including one firm, for having assaulted and harassed his ex-partner.
Sophia was also the victim of revenge porn from her ex, videos of their sexual intercourse having been broadcast without her consent, but before the law which makes it possible to condemn this porn disclosure.
“An emblematic file” for the public prosecutor, which was denounced by the defense of the ex-boyfriend for whom we made “an example”.
"The damage and harm are there, but thanks to this decision, he can no longer harm me."
This Wednesday afternoon, after a three-hour hearing, Sophia came out relieved and happy "that this page is turning" after the two-year prison sentence, one of which was suspended, of her former boyfriend, Stéphane.
For three hours, in the courtroom of the Toulouse Criminal Court, she was confronted with this delivery driver from Oise, accused of having assaulted and harassed her for more than two years.
Harassment that was not limited to malicious calls and SMS.
In October 2014, she decided to leave the one who already had a companion in Amiens, where he resides.
This was the beginning of the descent into hell for the young woman.
Oral threats like "you'll pay all your life", he moved on to the execution of a more Machiavellian plan: the dissemination on social networks of photos of her naked or videos of their sexual intercourse.
Sentenced to Amiens this year for similar facts
“Accounts have been created on Facebook using her name, first name, the city where she lives, there is even one that refers to her company, her extension number.
All these data allowed to identify it.
They were called "Sophia defilement", "sperm bin".
She received many responses from men who saw the videos, she found them waiting for her in front of her workplace, in front of her home, she received porn casting announcements, ”listed the president of the court, Nicole Bergougnan, who did not spare the defendant.
With a shaved head, this boxer tried to defend himself by repeating that it was not him, that he had "never broadcast these videos".
The instruction was unable to provide formal proof that he had indeed put them online, a jammer having been used so as not to go back to the sender's IP address.
But in the exchanges he had with Sophia, he left clues.
“The same day she filed a complaint, she received a message from him telling her that every time he created a profile, he blocked his brother, his father, his cousin so that they could not see the photos… "You see I'm not that horrible," he wrote to her, "said Hélène Chayrigues, Sophia's lawyer, at the bar.
The latter mentioned the hundreds of phone calls made to her client, to her relatives, but also to her office.
For weeks and months, she spent hours behind her computer trying to block these Facebook pages, contacting Google and the porn sites where the videos appeared.
“She made the choice to fight, to denounce all the offenses, the false profiles.
Bravely, she went each time to file a complaint.
She did everything to clean up everything on the Net.
She exhausted herself there, he condemned her to the torture of Sisyphus.
She tried, but even today we can find it on the Net, ”continues her lawyer who recalls that in 2017, exhausted, Sophia fell seriously ill.
His father didn't want to talk to him anymore.
After hitting bottom, the young woman began reconstruction work, supported by the Cybhar'So association, which fights against this phenomenon of porn disclosure, better known as revenge porn.
If his first complaints had been closed, an investigating judge was eventually appointed.
And the case against her stalker has grown over the years.
Especially since in Amiens, Stéphane was the subject of another complaint for similar facts.
“In 2022, you were sentenced by the Amiens appeal court for exactly the same thing on a law student.
It's weird isn't it?
Strange coincidence, “said the judge.
“He contradicts himself, he lies.
Everything revolves around the relationship between these two people, and he comes to tell us that it's not him.
He even reverses the situation and accuses Madame of having broadcast everything to take revenge because he did not want to break up with his companion.
She's not masochistic enough to inflict that on herself.
It makes no sense, it's totally surreal.
Especially when we know that you are accustomed to facts, exactly similar facts ”, tackled for her part the public prosecutor, Alix-Marie Cabot-Chaumeton, who had requested the sentence retained by the court for the acts of violence in particular. .
On the other hand, she lamented that she was unable to prosecute on the basis of the Revenge Porn Act 2016, the facts dating from before came into force.
But maintained that this file was "emblematic of the harm that can be done through social networks, new technologies, by its magnitude and its duration over time".
“It is rare to see a victim so affected at various levels, whether social, family, professional, over so long.
Fortunately, she is strong.
»
For the defense "we wanted to set an example"
And for the defense, that is the problem.
“We wanted to make an example of it.
This is part of the desire to condemn, to repress these so-called revenge porn cases, but in a badly chosen case, because the elements of guilt are absolutely not reported.
There is no proof.
With regard to the messages attributed to him, has it been possible to determine that he was the author of these messages?
No.
Is the proof reported that he is lying?
What is the origin of this?
Certainly not, ”criticized Marie-Hélène Pibouleau, the defendant's lawyer, who is now prohibited from contacting her victim and has an obligation of care.
His defense indicated at the end of the hearing that he would not appeal his conviction, "not because it is an admission of guilt,
Sophia will not have to relive a second hearing and this sentence "will help to soften the rest".
“The reconstruction had already started, I didn't wait for this decision, but it feels good to tell me that I was listened to.
This is also why I made these open-face testimonies, so that the victims would not feel ashamed.
When I was at home, in the dark, on the Internet, trying to delete things, I would have liked to have had a testimony like mine, ”concludes the one whose story inspired the TV movie
Mise à nu.
By the Web
“Unboxing”, cyberbullying… The Defender of Rights calls for protecting the privacy of children
Company
Internet: The Assembly wants to facilitate parental control on computers and connected objects
Justice
Toulouse
Occitania
Revenge porn
Harassment
Facebook