“I’m going to kill this girl”: at the Hérault criminal court, immersed in the darkness of modern prostitution

Priscilla Humbert et Driss Nader comparaissent libres devant la cour d'assises de l'Hérault. Midi Libre – Aline Champsaur

Two accused tried for "complicity in extortion with violence followed by death" risk life imprisonment for having participated in the death of Alaïs Ragot, 18, brutally killed on February 10, 2020 in an apartment in Montpellier by a pimp, Quentin Robert, who committed suicide a week before the ;#39;hearing.

The crime is sinister, and the twilight atmosphere this Monday March 25 at the Hérault Assize Court, which sits for logistical reasons in a small, crowded and poorly lit room, as if invaded by the darkness of this terrible story.
There we come across the ghost of Alaïs Ragot, an 18-year-old girl discovered on the evening of February 10, 2020 in an apartment on rue Aristide-Olivier, near Saint-Roch station in Montpellier, "almost naked, her face swollen and bloody, a wound on her right arm, multiple puncture wounds and a 15-centimeter knife blade separated from its handle near the body" summarizes the president, Sylvie Gossent.

A howl of panic and despair

Coma, respiratory distress, double jaw fracture, violent and repeated kicks to the head: Alaïs dies in the night in the hospital, while the police collect testimonies from neighbors, who heard "a shrill cry, a howl of panic and despair" and what they took for "noises of furniture", which were in fact those of a savage kill.
The other ghost is even darker: Quentin Robert, 33, who was to be tried for "violent extortion followed by death" s’committed suicide in his cell at Béziers prison a week before the assizes, after having allowed his potential for rage and violence to emerge in two trials for aggravated pimping which had earned him ten years of imprisonment. prison, and expulsion from the box.

"We're going to go fuck a girl"

The sentences uttered that evening, where he wanted to get his hands on the money of Alaïs, who had previously prostituted herself under his control, and who had just distanced himself, make shudder. "We're going to go bang a girl to get some money" he said to his Priscilla Humbert, whom he met two weeks earlier, and who agreed to drive him from Béziers to Montpellier.
"I have nothing against you, but this girl, I'm going to kill her" he says in Sofiane, theoretically responsible for ensuring the safety of Alaïs. "Look carefully at what's going to happen" he adds, stabbing Alaïs with all his might, snapping his knife . He'll go get another one from the kitchen to start again, before lashing out with kicks in his face. "When I saw the state I had left it in, I told myself that I had to finish it" he told the investigating judge.

Two cronies risk life imprisonment

What remains are his two associates, who appear free, and who nevertheless also risk life imprisonment.
Driss Nader, 28 years old, arrived from Morocco to Italy, then to Béziers with his family, and who does not really have the profile of a hardened delinquent. But who agreed to accompany the pimp, gun in hand, to the apartment rented by the young prostitute. "I never wanted the death of’ ;rsquo;Alaïs, that's for sure. I found myself in a situation where I couldn't get out of it. Neither go forward nor go back" he explains. "It’was because I was with bad people".
The President: "What you did was for money? We know how easy money is in this business ."
The accused confirms. "Easy and dangerous."

Remorse and justifications

Priscilla, 33, mother of two children, overflows with remorse and justifications on the stand. "Even though I know that this whole affair is unforgivable, I wanted to ask forgiveness from the family of Alaïs " she says before listing all the disasters that mark her life. A mother who gave birth to her at 15, an incestuous stepfather, a first partner who gave her two children and who beat her up "with a baseball bat.&quot ; She flees to the South, meets friends of Quentin Robert on Christmas Eve, because she has a flat car, and they help her change her tire. On January 1st, he contacted her shortly after via Snapchat, introducing himself as "a shitty fucking pimp who has hookers but wants to change his life."

As a couple after 15 days

Fifteen days later, they are a couple, in Béziers. The president is surprised. "I was in need of affection, he told me that I was doing him good, I fell into the trap."
"He asked you to prostitute yourself?"
"No, but after our arrest, he told me via Snapchat that his goal was to put me on the sidewalk with the other girls he had." The trial lasts until Friday, and will delve even further into the darkness of modern prostitution. This sinister first day is unfortunately only a start.

I subscribe to read more