Woman Who Killed Her Abusive Husband Collapses In Court As French Prosecutors Say She Should NOT Go To Prison
A mother-of-four who killed her abusive husband who pimped her out to truck drivers collapsed in courtroom today after a senior French prosecutor stated she should not go to jail if she is found guilty of murder.
Valérie Bacot, 40, has admitted to killing Daniel Polette, who was 25 years her senior and who had made her life hell. She faces life in a cell if convicted of his murder.
She admitted killing him using a weapon he kept in the household people carrier, but stated she solely did it due to the fact he often beat and raped her, and pressured her into prostitution.
'I desired to save me and my children,' Bacot told the Saône-et-Loire Assizes Court in Châlons-sur-Saône, France.
And in dramatic scenes on Friday morning, the fifth day of the homicide trial, Advocate General Eric Jallet stated the defendant 'should not return to prison'.
He rather stated that if Bacot is found guilty by a jury she should be punished with 5 years in prison, with 4 suspended.
She has already spent a yr on remand, which means she would be freed immediately.
'You must take into account the personality of the accused, Val̩rie Bacot Рa victim all her life,' stated Mr Jallet.
He told the jury: 'So any sentence you decide have to be reduced, scaled down.
'The entire query you will have to ask your self is this: does Valerie Bacot have to go back to prison? Obviously not. She has already served one year in pre-trial detention.'
Mr Jallet said: 'Premeditated homicide is by no means self-defense. It is a willingness to kill, premeditated, in a context of domestic violence. This court must observe the law.
'But there are exclusive things to take into account. The reality that she is beaten for so long, that she wanted to survive.'
On hearing the dramatic words from Mr Jallet, an overcome Bacot suffered an illness, and her attorneys demanded an adjournment.
The case has fuelled a nationwide debate in France about conjugal violence, and whether victims should be allowed to take the regulation into their own hands.
Close to a million people have now signed a petition demanding the charges in opposition to Bacot are dropped.
Polette, a lorry driver, was 61 at the time of his death on March 13 2016, when he died from a single bullet wound to the neck.
He was originally the lover of Bacot's mother, and first raped Bacot when she was just 12, the court heard.
Polette was jailed for sexually abusing Bacot when she was 14 but was launched after less than three years in jail and moved back in with her and her mother, Joëlle.
Bacot then became pregnant with Polette's child when she was 17 and then married him and had three more children with him.
After Bacot first became pregnant, her mom threw the couple out, and they married in 2008.
Polette then arranged for Bacot to begin sleeping with different guys for money.
Bacot has admitted killing Polette, however in self-defence as he pressured her to prostitute herself in the Peugeot People Carrier, close to their home in Saône-et-Loire.
Bacot says she shot Polette in the heat of the moment after additionally being abused by a client.
Earlier in the trial this week her mom Joelle Aubague testified that the pair wanted to be together and she did not have to kill him to escape the marriage.
Aubague took to the stand and launched a defence of her own actions, having been painted as a neglectful drunk who turned a blind eye to Daniel's abuse.
Joelle - who was married to Daniel when he started abusing Valerie - insisted she knew nothing of the assaults till he was jailed, took Valerie to see him behind bars only because she wanted to go, and that it was her daughter's very own choice to run off with him when she later fell pregnant with his child.
Asked whether Valerie could have escaped the relationship without killing Daniel, she said: 'There were other solutions'.
She was accompanied on the stand by Alain Polette, Daniel's younger brother who gave a very different account, telling the court his elder sibling was 'the devil' - a vile and abusive personality for whom the term 'monster' was too kind.
Opening the case on Monday, Valerie recounted abuse she suffered at Polette's hands - saying he had beaten her unconscious with a hammer, prostituted her out to different truck drivers, and threatened to kill their 4 kids if she refused
The 2nd day of the trial saw Valerie's three eldest children testify about their family life, saying their mom is 'not guilty' and had only killed Polette to 'protect us' after police refused to help.
Day three commenced today with Valerie's mom Joelle arriving at court where she launched a defence of her personal actions and contradicted her daughter's previously testimony, according to local site La Journal de Saone-et-Loire.
Previously, Valerie had informed the court that Joelle had turned a blind eye when Polette - then her husband - began following her into the toilet aged 12 to sexually abuse her.
Joelle rejected that allegation, saying the abuse had occurred behind her back whilst she was at work.
She claimed to have seen that Valerie frequently sat on Daniel's lap, however assumed the pair were only 'close'.
In 1996 Polette was jailed for sexually abusing Valerie after one of his sisters reported the abuse to police, but Joelle continued to visit him in jail.
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