A 60-year-old family man and shopkeeper was involved in an indecent assault on a child. Found guilty, he was sentenced to ten years of criminal imprisonment.
One of the characteristics of the profile of pedophiles is that they are known by the children they abuse. And the man who recently appeared before the criminal division of the Casablanca Court of Appeal and suspected of having sexually abused a five-year-old child is none other than the shopkeeper in the neighborhood where the victim’s parents live. In short, he is known by the child who went to him every time to buy candy, chocolate, cakes, yoghurt, etc.. But no one ever thought that he is a pedophile especially since he is fifty-one years old, a father who lives in the region of Taroudant, a believer and pious who attends the mosque daily to perform the five prayers. “
Satan has seduced me …”. This is the phrase he repeated every time the president of the court asked him a question or asked for an explanation. In short, implicitly, he confessed his crime of indecent assault on a minor with violence. A prosecution stipulated by the provisions of Article 485 of the Penal Code amended and supplemented by Law No. 24.03 which provides for a sentence of imprisonment of ten to twenty years. However, even if the confession is a perfect and sufficient proof to establish the guilt, the Court questioned the child in order to be convinced if there is indeed violence or not. In this regard, the child who stood on a chair to approach the president of the Court who asked him for an explanation said that the first time the defendant had abused him held him by the arm to make him go inside his business. With violence, he removed his pants and his panties to touch him before putting his sex on his body. Before releasing him, he threatened him with murder if he dared to say anything to his parents. The child revealed to the court that each time he forced him to return to his business to abuse him while giving him candy or chocolate. Indeed, his mother asked him, the last time, the reason why the shopkeeper of the district gave him some. And the child revealed the secret so that she took him to the police. A complaint was lodged against the accused who finally confessed his crime. Did he abuse other children in the neighborhood? The respondent answered negatively.
After the representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the maximum sentence and the defense lawyer asked that his client benefit from mitigating circumstances, the court withdrew from the hearing to deliberate.
Verdict: Giving the respondent the benefit of mitigating circumstances, the Court rendered its verdict by sentencing him to ten years of criminal imprisonment.
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