“These girls, how do they manage to endure all this ?” cries the mother of Alaïs, the young prostitute beaten to death in Montpellier

Alaïs Ragot was 19 years old when she was killed in Montpellier in 2020. FREE NOON – Chaumont/Ragot Family

At the Hérault Assize Court, the family of the young girl beaten to death on February 10, 2020 by a pimp takes the stand, poignantly. Verdict expected tomorrow Friday March 29 for the two accused, who appear free and face life imprisonment.

On the screens of the Hérault Assize Court, this Thursday, March 28, there is a patchwork of color images of the life of Alaïs, before she was beaten to death. died, at 19, on February 10, 2020 in Montpellier. A little girl growing up, in her arms, on vacation, at the beach, with cousins, and in front of birthday cakes. On the stand, a mother, screaming her rage and her pain.

Raped in college at age 13

"We talk about a prostitute, a whore, but Alaïs was that!" cries Stéphanie, her arm outstretched towards the photos of her daughter. "It’was something else!" And Stéphanie tells it, between two heartbreaking sobs."She had a beautiful, sparkling childhood. And in September 2014, in middle school, at age 13, she was raped by a boy in third grade, who was “popular”, a bit of a “bad boy”. Two years of procedure. And then there are tumors that have arrived, more and more important. Well no, you're the whore, actually. You're the one being the whore. It’s off to a fight. Change of establishment, psychiatric hospitalization, scarification. He received a suspended sentence because he was a minor. She went from extreme unhappiness to rebellious side, she no longer had confidence in society."

Runaways and bad encounters

Alaïs starts to run away, " and then she met this kind of people" and decided to prostitute herself, which her mother only discovered much later, the day after her attack.< em>"I discover this world of prostitution, and the suffering of these girls, how they manage to endure all that ?" She is crying. "My feeling is anger, my life is anger is underground, in perpetuity."

Also read: "Alaïs wanted to stop prostituting himself, I would have preferred that he killed me", says Kelly, in tears at the Hérault assizes

Jacques comes to the stand. "Je am the big- maternal father of Alaïs, the grandfather of a devastated and broken family, traumatized after what happened to Alaïs by the barbaric enterprise of a trio whose actions were nothing but have no name, and who took his life and his hopes. I would like to try to recall happier things in her life, and bow to the courage she had in the face of this savagery, in front of the sacrifice she made."

"All institutions have failed"

Declared brain dead the day after the crime, the family authorized organ harvesting. "She allowed five children to live. There are some who take life, there are some who give it.

Jaques talks about his family and his 13 grandchildren, "cousins, siblings, and everyone was happy. At 14, she was abused, betrayed, scorned. Because of the court decision, she completely lost trust in adults. She became rebellious. The family did what they could, and I don't want to point fingers, but it must be said: all the institutions failed. Afterwards she met bad people and took the wrong direction."

"That evening, no one reached out to him"

He concludes, with dignity and restraint : "I am not into revenge, nor into hatred, but it is necessary that justice repairs this injustice. Marie, the grandmother, leaning on her crutch and on the bar. "Since I arrived this week, I only see blood, I only hear barbaric things. That evening in his apartment, no one reached out to him. On the contrary, we jumped on his head with both feet. This is not possible."

Farewells in the resuscitation room

Her aunt, intensive care nurse. "She has had problems in her life, but she has not participated in any crime. Everyone had their own path, hers was not the right one, but she tended to take a less difficult path. She came across men who massacred her, stoned her, cowards. In this horror, we went to say goodbye to him in the sheave. They had washed her hair, they had put her makeup on… hellip; In this above-ground thing, she saved five children, and around these children, today there are 35 or 40 people who shine, and something that continues from her.

Marylou, her little sister, overwhelming

And then Marylou, her younger sister. The deep, calm, poignant voice. "We were three years apart. She was always very protective of me. My sister, she was stubborn, but she knew how to be generous. I thought she was beautiful, I was jealous of her."

"I loved my sister. I'm 19, almost 20, and I'm older than my big sister, which makes no sense. Birthdays were very hard. I'm older than her, I've lived longer than her, and that's not normal."

"You have seen the photos of his body, of his condition. I held his hand on his hospital bed. No one should suffer the same thing because of these people."

Verdict Friday March 29.

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