A father was sentenced Friday by the Seine-Saint-Denis Assize Court to 14 years of criminal imprisonment for the violent kidnapping of his daughter and son in 2020 in Drancy, and for aggravated violence against his ex -sister-in-law and threats towards her ex-mother-in-law.
The total withdrawal of parental authority was also pronounced by the court, in accordance with the requisitions, as well as a ban on French territory for ten years for this man born in Algeria thirty-five years ago. Throughout the reading of the verdict, Fouad Saoudi kept his eyes closed.
During the two-week trial, he explained that he had “gone crazy” when he learned that his children had been entrusted to their maternal grandmother after the permanent departure of their mother, from whom he had been separated for years.
It is in this home that he arrives at 5:00 a.m. on July 7, 2020, breaking down the door with a grinder and a battering ram, helped by an accomplice. He seized two of his four children, a 7-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy, found safe and sound three days later in the hotel where he was arrested.
Protect children
“The Assize Court heard the need to protect children. For a few years, they will be able to grow and prioritize their well-being,” their lawyer Manuela Lalot told AFP. She hopes that measures will be taken to find the eldest of the siblings, in Algeria since 2017, a child abduction for which Fouad Saoudi was convicted.
On Wednesday, the attorney general requested eighteen years of criminal imprisonment with two-thirds security. For his lawyer Me Yassine Yakouti, “the court significantly reduced the sentence and did not retain a security period”. The facts “nevertheless remain a huge family drama. Perhaps the time has come for reflection,” he added.
Seykou Bah, the main accomplice, was sentenced to seven years in prison for kidnapping and forcible confinement. Hicham Khelifi, who, according to the prosecution, played the role of “operational center” since his detention, was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for his complicity. Hicham Khelifi’s sister, found guilty of kidnapping and forcible confinement, received a three-year suspended prison sentence.
Two other young men were convicted. One for complicity in kidnapping, two years suspended sentence. The second to five years in prison with a probationary suspension of three years for participation in criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime. A VTC driver, prosecuted for failure to report a crime, was acquitted.