“You have nothing to do with her. I’ve made that as clear to you as I could.”

Tahiti, August 26, 2024 – This Monday, a 19-year-old appeared in the Papeete Criminal Court, accused of committing acts of violence against his (too) young girlfriend, 15 years old, and a passerby who came to the victim’s aid.

The accused, a young man in his late 20s, crossed his arms, looked disdainful and did not hold back his tongue during the trial. On Monday, he appeared in court wearing a red motorcycle sweatshirt, charged with violence with or without weapons against his girlfriend and a passerby in Paea on August 18, as well as violence that occurred earlier this year and is still directed at his (too) young half.

As so often happens in Polynesia, it all started with a quarrel between a couple.Special”As the victim was only 15 years old, and she was only 12 years old when the two young men were together.You have no relationship with her, and I am telling you as clearly as I can (…) that is a problematic relationship in itself,” roared the court president, clearly furious at the almost criminal age disparity.

The young man allegedly choked his girlfriend during an ordinary argument not far from the victim’s mother’s workplace on August 18. A man heard the noise and ran to help him. During a rescue operation, he received two stitches on the side of his skull and a hematoma on his jaw.“A high kick” and a stone’s throw away.

‘A nightmare’

However, this incident was undoubtedly traumatic for the young girl, who was only 15 years old, and it was obviously not the first time. In fact, a few months ago, the defendant had pushed her to the ground and bit her nose, cheek and index finger, and there were photos of the injuries as evidence. For the victim’s mother, this relationship was a real ordeal. So much so that she said with a straight face in the bar: “A nightmare.” “He is emotionally blackmailing. He always comes back to our house with a rope and says he is going to kill himself. I am worried about my daughter. Something has to be done. Someone else could die next time. She is not my little girl anymore like she used to be… He is still waiting for her at the gate of her school”She described this in detail in court, even admitting that her daughter would have to repeat third grade, no doubt troubled by the turn in her relationship with the defendant.

His daughter, who was not present at the hearing, told investigators a similar version of events, explaining that “I left him several times, but he always came back.”

The defendant repeatedly defended himself with the same argument: “It was her mother who didn’t let her do what she wanted to do”, “It was her daughter who came back to me”. He tried to downplay his actions and make excuses by sounding weary and overconfident, but this did not go over well with the court president, who reminded him that it was his mother, not him, who had authority over her daughter.

After deliberation, the court imposed a nine-month suspended sentence and a ban on contact with the young victim, her home, her school and her mother’s workplace. He also underwent 117 hours of community service and must pay his young girlfriend the same amount of compensation as the passers-by he attacked, 200,000 francs and 50,000 francs respectively.