The Besançon Criminal Court sentenced a 50-year-old woman to five years in prison on Monday for violently assaulting an octogenarian at her home by making her believe she was delivering flowers. Prosecutor Alexandra Chaumet had requested a seven-year prison sentence for “repeat violent robbery against a vulnerable person.”
The incident took place on August 13. The 89-year-old victim opened the door to someone pretending to be a flower delivery woman and demanding money. When the octogenarian refused, she sprayed him with tear gas, beat him up and gagged him with a stocking, before searching his apartment to steal 20 euros and jewelry. With a bloodied face, the victim managed to take refuge at her neighbor’s house.
A drug addict already known to the police
Investigators from the Besançon Interdepartmental Judicial Police Service (SIPJ) brigade were able to track down the bouquet of flowers, which had been stolen from a supermarket. From the video surveillance images, they were able to identify the purchaser, a 50-year-old woman, a drug addict already known to the police for violent thefts.
“It is a cowardly act to attack someone in their own home, the victim saw herself dying. She is still afraid,” the prosecutor told the accused during her immediate appearance trial. Questioned about her motivations, she explained that she had robbed the octogenarian to help her son pay off a drug debt. “I am a monster, it could have been my mother, my grandmother,” she said.
“She hit my head on the ground”
Present at the hearing and her face still swollen, the victim, a frail person weighing barely 35 kg, stared at the defendant who kept her eyes fixed on the ground, confiding that she found “this gratuitous gesture deplorable”. “She didn’t know if I had money. She hit my head on the ground”.
“Your lawyer said it was cowardice not to look at you, it’s not cowardice, it’s shameful,” the defendant said with difficulty in response to the questions from the victim’s lawyer.