Violent, a man is stripped of his parental rights by the Court of Appeal of Versailles

This Monday, September 21, the Versailles Court of Appeal rendered a particularly rare decision. After a father tried to kill his partner in front of their daughter, the man was stripped of all parental rights over his child.

At the opening of the Grenelle on domestic violence in September 2019, Edouard Philippe assured that "As long as men convince themselves that they can hit the mothers of their children without being bad fathers, we can unfortunately fear that they will continue to do so." A year later, Monday September 21, 2020, the Versailles Court of Appeal seems to have remembered these words in removing his parental rights over his child from a father who had tried to kill his partner in front of their daughter.

In the night of April 16 to 17, 2018, Laura Rapp is the victim of an attempted homicide by her ex-companion, and father of their daughter Alice. "He hit my head against the wall, the floor… He was choking me, I couldn't breathe… He stopped because my neighbors rang the doorbell. They saved my life. He is Went to our daughter's room as I crawled to find a duplicate key. I opened the door to my neighbors who were calling the police. He escaped. ", she confides in an interview with Paris Match.

More than two years after this attempted murder, Laura Rapp is relieved by the decision of the Versailles Court of Appeal. "My ex will no longer be able to find out about anything about my daughter, and that he will no longer be able to advise or approach her. Alice is finally protected!", she admits.

"It is rare for a judge to decide to withdraw parental rights, including in a context of domestic violence and feminicides. This judgment of the court of appeal will set a precedent for other women", welcomes Nathalie Tomasini, Laura's lawyer.

"A violent man can never be a good father", assures LR MP Aurélien Pradié, specifying that he would like this law to become mandatory.

"The judges finally recognize, in 2020, that a man who tried to kill his partner is not a good father. It is an exceptional decision which will serve other women, other children. I hope that the Alice's name will resonate in all courthouses", says Laura Rapp in turn.

After trying to kill her, his daughter's father was sentenced to eight years of criminal imprisonment and five years of socio-judicial follow-up. While counsel and the Advocate General had requested the deprivation of his parental rights, the president of the Assize Court and his two assessors refused. Yet the man's violence inevitably took its toll on the psychological state of little Alice, who was diagnosed with a major traumatic disorder. "The night her father tried to kill me, it was like time had stood still for her. She had nightmares, had flashbacks until she had panic attacks.", explains the mother who is worried about the impact that this could have on her daughter in adulthood because very often, children, traumatized by violence, risk becoming in turn, either aggressors or victims .

Laura Rapp suffered violence from her ex-boyfriend for 4 years but says that ’he is "hard to realize that you are a victim of violence" and talk about it around you. "He had already threatened me with death with a golf club in front of Alice, but I had not dared to press charges. According to the police officers who intervened, a complaint would be of little use if I did not wasn't showing any signs of being beaten. I was afraid it would turn on me if I spoke. ", she admits. "Parental authority is what allows violent men to continue to persecute their ex after separation: the child becomes the lever to reach the mother.", she adds.

Her ex-boyfriend was released on February 14, 2019. Laura Rapp found herself forced to hire a private investigator to prove that her ex had repeatedly violated her judicial review. She also made a distress call on Twitter. “The media picked up my story and, a week later, my ex was remanded in custody for all the offenses that my lawyer had denounced for two and a half months. Without the strength of social networks, the examining magistrate would not have never answered. ", she regrets, explaining that she wants a structural reform of the justice system and real child protection because "we cannot protect mothers who are victims of violence without protecting children ". “Protecting a child from the violent parent is protecting his innocence, his personality, the adult he will be. What society do we want for tomorrow? Children must be taken out of the circle of violence and no longer risked. make them future aggressors or future victims. My ex-boyfriend deprived himself of his daughter by trying to kill me in front of her. ", she concludes.

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Video by Loïcia Fouillen