Rabat – A French pedophile who fled to Morocco 15 years ago, following his trial in his home country for the rape of his daughter and niece, has been extradited back to France to face the consequences of his actions.
Trialed for rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault on his daughter and his niece in February 2006, the 67-year old man fled France for Morocco on the fourth day of his trial.
According to French newspaper Le Parisien, the man was well-prepared, having emptied his bank accounts before the trial and purchasing a one-way ticket to Casablanca, Morocco. France subsequently issued an arrest warrant for the man.
Years after his escape, he was finally arrested in Morocco 2010, and sentenced in 2013, for seperate charges of paedophilia, “setting up a criminal organisation” and “illegal residency” in the country. The Casablanca court sentenced him to 12 years in prison, as well as to pay $6,800 (MAD 60,000) in reparations to the family of the victim, a young Moroccan girl.
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After he arrived in Morocco, the man started relationships with two young domestic workers he employed, before asking them to help him meet 10-year-old girls.
Once the man served his sentence in Morocco, he was extradited back to France, where the Assize Court of Finistere retried and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, according to the Parisian newspaper.
In addition to the fifteen years of imprisonment, the accused also received a ten-year ban on staying in the five administrative regions of Brittany, a French region. He also lost his civil, civic, and family rights for ten years. The man is now a registered sex offender in the French national file for perpetrators of sexual offenses.
The news comes as Morocco takes steps to severely punish pedophilia and other sex-related crimes.
The North African country put a moratorium on death penalty in 1993.
However, the First Criminal Chamber of Tangier’s Court of Appeal handed down the death sentence to a couple for their involvement in the murder of a 7-year-old child in 2020. Most recently, the same court sentenced to death a 24-year-old man who had kidnapped, raped, and killed a 11-year-old boy.
