The victim had been sprayed with sulfuric acid by her ex-companion in June 2018. Threatened for several months at the time of the events, she had taken the State to court, believing that she had not been sufficiently protected.
The state was condemned for “heavy mistake” by the Paris court, for its “incapacity” to protect a woman victim of domestic violence, who was then assaulted with acid by her ex-companion, according to a decision of the Paris court rendered on November 16 and consulted on Monday November 28 by AFP, confirming information from the Monde (article for subscribers).
On June 12, 2018, Karim Bouembassa, 41, sprinkled his ex-girlfriend and mother of their two children with sulfuric acid on a street in Marseille. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison in July 2019, sentence reduced to 15 years by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal in June 2020. But the victim, threatened for several months at the time of the events, also sued the State, believing that she had not been sufficiently protected.
The man had indeed been convicted several times for domestic violence against his partner and was under judicial control. On several occasions, he had not respected this judicial control, in particular by going near the home of his ex-companion. Arrested and taken into police custody on June 6, he was released two days later, on June 8, the same day an arrest warrant was issued against him.
“These circumstances characterize the inability of the public service of justice to fulfill the mission with which it is invested, which caused a chance to be lost” to the victim “not to suffer the attack that occurred only four days later”estimated the Paris court in its decision of November 16. “The State is required to repair the damage caused by the defective functioning of the public service of justice” in case of “heavy mistake”specifies the Paris court in its judgment.
By this judgment, the State is ordered to pay 10,000 euros in damages to the victim, in compensation for his non-pecuniary damage, as well as 3,000 euros for his legal costs. The court also condemned the State to pay 3,000 euros to the victim for the moral damage of each of his two children.