A French court has sentenced a 27-year-old Afghan refugee to 22 years in prison for attempting to murder a female jogger by slitting her throat during a knife attack in Reims, according to regional newspaper L’Union.
Fayaz Khan Nagharia was convicted by the Marne Assize Court for the Dec. 31, 2022, assault on the banks of the Vesle River. Judges also ordered a permanent ban on his return to French territory once he completes his sentence. Prosecutors had sought the maximum penalty of 30 years.
The victim survived after two passersby interrupted the attacker as he held her on the ground and cut her throat, narrowly missing a major artery. One of the witnesses, a nurse walking nearby with her mother, gave the victim first aid and called the police while fearing further attacks.
“We both thought he was going to hit us,” the witness testified. “My mother instinctively screamed. That stopped him in his tracks.”
Her mother later told the court, “We were alone. There was no one else there. I think if we hadn’t been there, he would have stabbed her several times.”
Throughout the trial, the defendant reportedly showed little reaction. When asked by the victim why he had attacked her, his response was, “I don’t know.” His responses were issued only via an interpreter.
The victim’s lawyer, Catherine Desgrippes, described the lasting psychological impact of the assault, telling the court, “Her executioner did not kill her physically, but he killed her from the inside.” She questioned whether the defendant’s motive was his cultural view of women. “She’s a European woman, athletic, living her freedom, running,” she noted.
The defense lawyer argued the man’s violent background and traumatic migration journey from Afghanistan should be considered, describing him as someone who grew up amid war and instability. She warned against what she called a “sentence of elimination,” urging a punishment that would allow rehabilitation. “One day, he will be released. He needs a sentence that gives him the tools for an education, to allow him to integrate into society,” she said, as cited by the French newspaper.
Investigators said Nagharia later displayed troubling behavior in pretrial detention, where he was held in isolation due to his being, according to authorities, a very high risk.
The migrant’s conviction is subject to appeal.
The post Afghan who slit throat of female jogger in France jailed for 22 years appeared first on Remix News.
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