There are twelve of them. Men, aged 25 to 60, inserted. They are bakers, computer scientists at Social Security, farmers, bankers, temporary workers or employees at the Stellantis factory. Coupled or separated, many have children. The vast majority of them have no records. They did not know each other until now but spent the day on the same benches at the judicial court in Valenciennes (North). What do they have in common? Having requested or obtained sexual relations, whether paid or not, with Émilie (the first name has been changed) and having exchanged pornographic photos, at the end of 2022-beginning of 2023, when she was only 14 years old.
Against ten of them, prosecutor Juliette Chopin requested the same sentence: two years in prison, including six months in prison. For the last two, 18 months in prison with a suspended probationary period. Beyond the sentences, the representative of the public prosecutor especially deplored the lack of questioning of most of the defendants, more quick to blame their use of social networks than to admit their guilty practices. “This is not the case of bad luck, it is the case of 12 adults who abused a 14-year-old minor by hiding behind a screen to better approach her,” she snaps.