A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, with part suspended, for the kidnapping, beating, and humiliation of his 17-year-old sister in Firminy last May. His 21-year-old cousin received a fully suspended one-year sentence for failing to assist a person in danger.
The case, heard on July 1 before the criminal court in Saint-Étienne, involved an hours-long “punitive expedition” triggered by the brother’s disapproval of his sister’s relationship with a boy he deemed unacceptable.
What followed was a night of terror. According to court evidence and contemporaneous reporting, the ordeal began around 11 p.m. on May 16, 2026. The 17-year-old victim had just parked her car near the SNCF train station in Firminy when her brother and cousin confronted her. The brother demanded her phone and, upon discovering photos of boys, flew into a rage.
The brother then struck her, pulled her hair, and forced her into the trunk of a car. The pair stopped to collect rope, a shovel, and a pickaxe before driving her to an isolated wooded area near a river between Firminy and Saint-Just-Malmont in Haute-Loire.
There, they tied her hands and feet behind her back. The brother beat her, interrogated her about the relationship, dug a hole resembling a grave, and threatened to leave her in it overnight. He then dragged her to the river and held her head underwater for long minutes.
The men later returned her to their mother’s apartment in Firminy, where the brother cut approximately 40 centimeters of her hair as further humiliation before locking her inside and leaving with his cousin, according to Le Progrès.
The victim escaped the following morning, sought refuge in a nearby bakery, called her father, and together they reported the assault to police. The attack lasted more than two to three hours.
During the hearing, the brother — who arrived in court handcuffed — acknowledged his actions and expressed regret.
“I had time to reflect in detention. I am here before you to take responsibility,” he told the court. “I have no right to correct her. She is a person in her own right. She has the right to have a boyfriend, friends, to go out — as long as they are acceptable people.”
The cousin also admitted guilt on the non-assistance charge.
“I ask for forgiveness from my cousin and my aunt,” he said. “I recognize the failure to assist a person in danger. I lacked lucidity and courage. I was afraid the violence would turn against me. I tried to calm him verbally. I had never seen him like that. It was someone else. I should have done more. I regret it.”
Both men have prior convictions: the brother for violence in 2024 and the cousin for property damage in 2025.
The brother’s lawyer, Charlotte Dupuy, described a “explosive cocktail” of unaddressed family trauma and argued the acts were intended to intimidate rather than cause serious harm. She requested a sentence allowing for semi-liberty so her client could receive treatment, work, and reintegrate.
The cousin’s lawyer, Ludivine Buisson, portrayed him as a young man caught up in a family drama beyond his control who repeatedly tried to intervene.
“If he hadn’t been there, what would have happened? Maybe the same thing, maybe worse,” she argued. “At every moment he tried to do something, either with words or with gestures. Fortunately he was there.”
The victim’s lawyer, Annick Sadurni, called the case “totally surreal and inadmissible.”
Her brother tried to impose his will on his own sister through force and violence, leading his sister to believe she was going to die and causing significant physical and psychological harm. She said her brother betrayed her. She has demanded nothing, including money.
Prosecutor Pauline Gervais described an “organized and premeditated punitive expedition” and requested four years in prison for the brother and ten months (five suspended) for the cousin.
The court convicted the brother of kidnapping, assault, and death threats, sentencing him to 30 months in prison, of which 12 months were suspended with probation. He remained in custody, and six months of a prior suspended sentence were revoked, meaning he faces roughly two years of effective imprisonment.The cousin was convicted of failure to assist a person in danger and received a 12-month suspended sentence with probation.
The mother of the victim was present in court and visibly emotional. No names have been published to protect the identity of the minor victim. Local media, including Le Progrès and Midi Libre, reported extensively on the incident in May and the sentencing this week. The case has sparked discussion online about family dynamics and violence. Meanwhile, the victim is said to be focused on recovery following the betrayal by her own brother.
The case has been described as a “honor crime” as typically seen in many Middle Eastern and North African countries, but the nationality of the two convicted youths has not been released, which means internet users are only speculating.
The post France: Young girl was kidnapped, tied up, assaulted, and threatened with murder for dating the ‘wrong boy,’ brother and cousin convicted appeared first on Remix News.
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