“I still have his last look in my head”: in Montpellier, the death of Alaïs haunts the witnesses of this atrocious crime

Les deux accusés, Driss Nader et Priscilla Humbert. MIDI LIBRE – Croquis Aline Champsaur

Driss Nader, a 29-year-old from Biterrois, and Priscilla Humbert risk life imprisonment for violent extortion leading to death, after the death of this young woman who was a prostitute, on February 10, 2020.

"There was a moment when you realized that’he was killing Alaïs", asked this Wednesday, March 27, the president of the Assize Court of Hérault to Driss Nader, 28 years old, a Biterrois accused of having participated on February 10, 2020 in the brutal killing of this 19-year-old young woman, who was a prostitute in Montpellier.

32 years old, including 7 spent in prison

"Yes, he wanted to kill her" recognizes this man who agreed to accompany Quentin Robert that evening, 32 years old, 7 of whom spent in prison. Nicknamed Jo, Alaïs’s former pimp had clearly announced the color. "He told me that the girl was his whore, that he he had to take it to take revenge and get the money back he told the investigating judge.

"He told me, there are 10 000 €, we're going to do half and half." Quentin Robert committed suicide in prison a week before the trial opened. Accused of violent extortion followed by death, he risked life imprisonment, like Driss Nader and Priscilla Humbert, then in a relationship with Jo, and who led the two men there.

45 minutes of description by the pathologist

Driss Nader softens the terrible end of the young girl, beaten with fists, rifle butts, knives, and finished off with kicks in the head: Doctor Philippe Cathala, forensic doctor, took 45 minutes to describe the list of her injuries. "Alais, she really suffered. I don't know what more I can tell you" admits Driss Nader who swears that he intervened several times to calm Jo's destructive fury. "I’have tried to protect her from the aggressor, even though I am the aggressor too. I hit him on the chest, it seemed like he was waking up. Before, he was a demon, and then he calmed down."

Feet together on his face

The President: "But you had a taser in your pocket!" Driss Nader : "I was scared, he would have stabbed me too."

Problem: the two witnesses to the crime, Sofiane, 23 years old, supposed to protect Alaïs, and Herman, 29 years old, his last client surprised by the ;rsquo;irruption of the two armed men, affirm that he did not move until the very last moment, "while Quentin Robert&nbsp ;stood at the railing and jumped with both feet onto Alaïs's face.

The President: "Why doesn't anyone? came to the aid of this woman ?" Herman: " Pbecause they had a weapon, and whoever holds the weapon is always right. I'm not afraid of them, I'm afraid of the weapon."

The magistrate: "No one blames you for anything, sir".

Also read: "If I didn't take the customers, he hit me" : the terrible testimony of Delia, a 13-year-old prostitute in Hérault

Customer impunity, despite the law

Perhaps she could still have reminded him that since 2016, the law punishes using the services of a prostitute with a fine. ;nbsp;from 1 500 €, from 3 750 € in the event of a repeat offense, and five years in prison and 75,000 euros; fine if the prostitute is a minor.

But no one talks about it in this terrible trial, while the suffering of Alaïs and her friends, who all began to prostitute themselves well before turning 18, is a reflection of the current outbreak of this phenomenon in France, driven by the facilities that the Internet offers to customers as numerous as they are unscrupulous..

"Alaïs was a happy person, despite what she did. She didn't like it, she didn't like it" recalls Sofiane, who falls into tears in the arms of Alaïs’s little sister, as she leaves the ;rsquo;audience. "I relive this scene every day. I still have his last look in my head."

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