A French woman who murdered her abusive husband to hear the verdict | French News

A mother of four has been charged in France with murder after her husband was raped, beaten, and mutilated from an early age.

The case has attracted a lot of publicity and support, as the whole country has considered the long-standing practice of domestic violence.

Valerie Bacot, 40, has admitted to shooting Daniel Polette in death in 2016. He is in danger of going to jail for murder.

Polette was her first father before she died and was forced into prostitution.

The verdict is expected Friday in Chalon-sur-Saone, in central France.

The prosecutor has asked for one year ‘imprisonment and a four-year prison sentence, meaning Bacot could be released on bail because he had already spent time in solitary confinement.

The prosecutor said she did not consider him a threat in public.

Bacot fainted at the request of the prosecutor in the case on Friday morning, which led to the suspension of the case until noon.

His case has encouraged civil rights activists, with more than 680,000 people signing a petition to be released.

“I had to stop,” Bacot, 40, wrote in a book published last month called “Anyone Who Knows”, adding: “I was scared, all the time.”

The case was reopened on Monday.

Bacot was 12 when Polette, who was older than 25, was raped for the first time.

He was sent to prison, but after his release he returned and was again raped.

“She told my mother that she would never do it again. But he did, “he told the court.

At the age of 17, Bacot became pregnant, was evicted from the home by his alcoholic mother, and moved in with Polette.

“I wanted to keep my baby. I didn’t have anyone. Where am I going ?, ”he told the court.

Polette, another alcoholic, became violent and was sometimes beaten with a hammer.

“First he slapped me, then he started hitting me, then he hit me and then I choked,” he said, describing his life as “hell a lot”.

Polette was ordered to work as a prostitute for motorists, using the back of a Peugeot passenger car, and advised her through earphones to force her to wear it to ensure she complied with the demands of the customers she ordered between 20-50 euros ($ 24 – $ 59).

Investigators found that Polette threatened to kill her if she refused, pointing a gun at her several times.

When Polette began questioning their 14-year-old daughter Karline about her early sexual relationship, Bacot said she thought “this should stop”.

In March 2016, after Polette ordered Bacot to be embarrassed again by a customer, he used a shotgun he kept in his car to kill him with a single bullet in the back of his neck while in the driver’s seat.

Bacot said he wants to make sure his daughter doesn’t experience the same.

“I wanted to save him,” he said.

The scenario in the shootout counters the potential for self-defense.

Bacot hid Polette’s body in the woods with the help of two of her four children. In October 2017 he was arrested, confessed and a year later released on bail.

He did not respond when he arrived at the court on Monday, a small man in a ponytail and a black jacket who looked intimidated by a crowd of journalists.

Before her lawyers were convicted of “the horrific violence she had experienced for 25 years and the fear that her son would follow” led her to kill Polette.

The same lawyers, Janine Bonaggiunta and Nathalie Tomasini, had previously defended Jacqueline Sauvage, a French woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of her abusive husband but was pardoned by the President in 2016 as a sign of anti-violence against women.

“These abused women are insecure. Courts are slow, inefficient and tolerate offenders who can continue to abuse their power, “Bonaggiunta told AFP.

“This is what can force a desperate woman to kill to survive,” he said.

Bacot was “convinced he should do this to protect his children”, a court review found.