The Créteil juvenile court sentenced an 18-year-old young man to 14 years of imprisonment for the murder of Mattéo, 17, in May 2021 in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne).
The sentence includes an obligation of socio-judicial monitoring for a period of five years, accompanied by obligations of care, work and compensation, specified Me Grégory Bensadoun, lawyer for Mattéo’s family. The convicted young man is also banned from contacting civil parties and from carrying a weapon for 10 years.
Aged 16 at the time of the facts, he was accused of having killed Mattéo with a single fatal stab wound to the chest on May 18, 2021, in the early evening, in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne ). A personal conflict preceding the tragedy was at the origin of this attack.
“Assassination” charge dismissed
The prosecution had requested 16 years of imprisonment for murder against this now young adult. The court did not retain this charge of “assassination”. But she retained, like the prosecution, the “minority excuse”. Article 122-8 of the Penal Code provides that the criminal liability of minors found guilty takes into account “the reduction in responsibility they benefit from due to their age” at the time of the facts.
The sentence handed down “is commensurate with the seriousness of the acts he committed”, the lawyer for Mattéo’s family responded to AFP. “We simply regret that the assassination was not held, because objectively all the elements were there to hold it back. But it is a decision that is generally accepted,” concluded Me Bensadoun.
“I can hear that 14 years is the sentence for a minor,” Mattéo’s mother, Cindy Hinault, told AFP, despite her “disappointment” that the charge of murder was not retained. “No matter what, it won’t change the fact that my son will never be here again,” she added. Asked by AFP, the defense lawyer, Me Raphaël Deutsch, did not comment on the verdict.