Four years after the death of Tony, 3, in Reims, his mother was sentenced to 4 years in prison, while his ex-companion, accused of having struck the child, is sentenced to 20 years of criminal seclusion.
After a week of trial at the Marne Assize Court, the verdict was handed down on the evening of Friday, February 5, concerning the trial for the death of little Tony, aged 3 at the time of the events, in Reims.
The stepfather of the child, is sentenced to 20 years of criminal imprisonment, convicted of usual violence and "violence resulting in death without intention of giving it" on the child of 3 and a half years, died on 26 November 2016. For her part, the boy's mother, accused of not denouncing ill-treatment and failing to assist a person in danger – two offenses for which she risked 5 years maximum imprisonment – was sentenced to 4 years in prison, one with stay without committal.
A more lenient verdict than expected
The sentences pronounced by a majority of the votes of the six jurors and the three professional magistrates are therefore lower than those requested by Matthieu Bourrette, the prosecutor of Reims. The latter had in fact asked for the maximum sentences: thirty years imprisonment for the child's stepfather, and five years in prison for his former partner and Tony's mother.
As reported 20 minutes, for two long hours, the prosecutor recalled how the family apartment turned into "slaughterhouse"for the little boy. Slaps, punches, throws against the bed or the cupboard: Tony had ended up succumbing to such a surge of violence, that the forensic scientists could not count exactly the traces of beatings, so he wore it.
For Anthony Alvès, Tony's father, the conviction of the man who killed his son in 2016 is not severe enough: "He should have been 30 years old. 20 years is not enough. Then he will come out and he will start over. It is a great mystery."he confided to France Blue after the verdict.