A man found guilty of corrupting a minor over the age of 15
The case heard in court last Wednesday dates back to last December and involves a man in his fifties suffering from mental health problems.
His victim, who was a minor at the time, is a boy who filed a complaint after the man in question sent him an unambiguous video via WhatsApp in which he can be clearly seen masturbating. During two hearings on this matter, he claimed that it was the young boy who had asked him for such a video on numerous occasions, and that after refusing several times, he had eventually agreed.
This illiterate man, who is under guardianship, has a level of judgement and reasoning comparable to that of a 7-year-old child, according to his guardian who was present in the courtroom, but upon closer examination, there is no doubt that he was fully aware that he had crossed a line by sending this video to his victim.
Under court supervision
However, there remains some uncertainty regarding the nature of their relationship, as according to some testimonies, the young boy is said to have visited him at his home on several occasions. Moreover, the question of how the perpetrator obtained his contact’s telephone number was not really addressed. The man was found guilty and received a two-year suspended prison sentence, accompanied by an order to undergo treatment and a ban on contacting minors. He will also have to pay 500 euros to the complainant as compensation for the emotional distress he suffered.
But the story is not over yet, as the complainant will soon be returning to court – this time as the defendant – as, after receiving the video in question, he was unable to contain his anger and went to his attacker’s home to land a few well-aimed punches on him in order to cool his hot-headed behaviour over the phone.
