She no longer dares to leave her house without looking over her shoulder. On June 6 in Nogent-sur-Oise, north of Paris, a 74-year-old woman was violently assaulted in the street by her neighbors. On Thursday, July 24, the Senlis judicial court sentenced a 25-year-old man and his 22-year-old partner for violent robbery. The couple, both struggling with drug addiction, targeted the septuagenarian as she was returning home. The main perpetrator, a Moroccan national in an irregular situation, ripped a necklace worth 600 euros from her neck before fleeing. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison, with continued detention. Already known to authorities for theft and drug trafficking, he is also subject to an Obligation to Leave French Territory (OQTF), according to Le Parisien. His partner, a work-study student and regular cocaine user, denied striking the victim. However, her version was contradicted by a witness and by the victim herself, who testified that she had been hit on the back and face. The court sentenced her to eight months in detention. «I'm still afraid, especially because I could run into her again», the victim said in court, visibly shaken by the fact that her attackers live less than a hundred meters from her home. «If they had both apologized from the start, I might not have taken it this far. But she kept denying it, and that made me furious», she added. The court has barred the couple from contacting the victim for five years. As compensation, she will receive 1,850 euros for material and moral damages.
