Valerie Bacot

[RickiTarr]

I couldn’t see a thread about her yet. I feel as though she needs our positive thoughts and prayers. Poor, poor woman and her daughters.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57553692

[334bu]

Awful.

[DdraigGoch]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9713183/Valerie-Bacot-murder-trial-Sons-say-police-refused-twice-help-family.html
The magistrate doesn't seem particularly enlightened.

[NiceGerbil]

That's appalling.

While reading it I thought.

If I wanted to kill DH I would have to be armed and I would have to do it sneakily.

If he wanted to kill me he could just kill me at any point with little effort.

When women kill after years of abuse it takes a different form to when men kill women for whatever reason. Men can always say heat of moment etc.

I think this discrepancy was addressed here some years ago, or at least recognised. Whether much has changed is another question.

In this case he had been to prison for abusing her as a child FGS. Then age 17 they're married. I mean. It's pretty bloody clear cut he was a total bastard and was controlling her surely.

I suppose there needs to be s trial as a man has been shot dead. But premeditated murder? The most serious crime on the list?

Their equivalent of the CPS is going for this? They didn't have to.

Fucks sake.

[NiceGerbil]

The mail has more quotes from testimony.

Seems she killed him when he indicated he wanted to prostitute her 14yo DD.

I don't blame her. At all.

[RickiTarr]

I was reading various bits and pieces yesterday and this morning. The generally consensus seems to be that France’s Catholicism is to blame for their lagging legal approach to women killing under the slow burn but unbearable pressure of DV.

I’m not quite sure how I fell about that as a reason. France is a secular state, after all, and Catholicism has never hampered their forgiving approach to les crimes passionnel.

It seems to me that legal systems to very well in being conservative all on their own, but maybe there is something in it.

[drinkingwineoutofamug]

[quote RickiTarr]I found a petition. France has a real issue and this poor woman does not deserve jail time:

www.change.org/p/freedom-for-valérie-bacot-libertépourvalérie-freedomforvalerie[/quote]
Can this be put in petitions so we can sign.
It's disgusting.

[AfternoonToffee]

That is absolutely horrendous, poor woman.

[stickygotstuck]

Signed the petition.

Absolutely appalling. FWIW, I don't think being shot was enough for what he deserved.

The Catholicism angle is a complete red herring. It's pure sexism. Of which there is an abundance in every religion or lack thereof.

[RickiTarr]

Oh yes I will do. Petitions is a separate board now, is it?

[RickiTarr]

It's pure sexism. Of which there is an abundance in every religion or lack thereof.

That’s kind of my take TBH, and I am fairly observant, but not Catholic. All the major religions were male dominated for many centuries with predictable results.

[RickiTarr]

Also posted on “Petitiions and activism” now.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/petitions_noticeboard/4278255-Petition-for-freedom-of-Valerie-Bacot-domestic-abuse-victim?watched=1

[StrawberryLipstickStateOfMind]

I've signed. That poor poor woman and her children.

[ShallWeStartTheMeeting]

The details of this case are horrific, one after the other.
The fact that Valerie's mother effectively gave her 12 year old daughter to her boyfriend...
When I realised she killed him with the gun that he had threatened her with for years, I thought it was poetic justice.

She endured threats and sexual violence for years. Finally when her 14 year old mentioned her dad had asked 'what she was like sexually' she killed him.
She protected her child. She should be let go and compensated for the abuse she suffered.

[stickygotstuck]

She protected her child. She should be let go and compensated for the abuse she suffered

Exactly!

[dottiedodah]

I cant believe there is any case for her to answer! FFS he had abused her terribly for years, and pimped her out to men as well. He was also making threats about abusing her DD! Also he had been imprisoned for 4 years ,then came out and went to live at her family home .Absolutely appalling .No body even batted an eyelid. Article in DM Apologies for link!) also seemed to think there was a class issue ,and that working class women were given a harder time than their MC contemporaries .

[RickiTarr]

There doesn’t seem to be any hope for a fair legal outcome.

Hollande did this for another woman a few years ago, though; www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/jacqueline-sauvage-full-pardon-france.html

[Keepemguessing]

That poor woman.

[RickiTarr]

It’s just beyond words, isn’t it? I can’t stop my mind drifting back to it constantly.

[DdraigGoch]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9717533/Valerie-Bacot-murder-trial-Mother-takes-witness-stand.html
Next instalment (only the Mail seems to be doing full court reporting on this case).

Several of the man's exes and siblings have testified that he was controlling and abusive. His younger brother said that "monster" would be too kind a description. The (real) victim's mother on the other hand insists that everything was fine and that Valerie was free to leave whenever she liked. I don't get how the woman could call herself a mother after repeatedly exposing her daughter to this man. It was one of his sisters who had reported the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter, yet her mother took her to prison on visits, before then "giving him a second chance". I don't know anyone at all who believes in second chances for perpetrators of CSA, any reasonable person would never contact them ever again.

There have been a few rape and murder cases in English news committed by stepfathers. One case which sticks very much in mind was one where the stepfather had first been in a relationship with the victim's mother, then with her grandmother, then committing the abuse and murdering the child. If someone I was in a relationship with started up a romantic/sexual relationship with my parent, I'd want nothing to do with either of them. It's not normal in the slightest.

As for this legal case, I accept that the court may have no option to convict unless French law has some sort of mechanism for this sort of situation. When convicted though, it is imperative that President Macron issues a pardon.

[Sophiederuges]

France is a misogynist country. I’ve never felt so liberated as a woman as when I arrived in the U.K. You should just see the BTL comments on French articles from men who say any sympathy for Valérie is tantamount to sexism because if a man did this, “feminists” would screaming feminicide. I don’t even have words to express my anger and disgust.

You just have to dig into the Polanski debacle to see what French society is made of with regards to women’s and girls’ rights. Not to mention the opposition the government was faced with when a higher age of consent. Disgusting.

The catholic angle is a red herring. You have plenty of sex crime apologists on the left leaning, anticlerical “intellectual” elite.

[Sophiederuges]

*when a higher age of consent was introduced

PS: I realise my post is very disjointed and full of anger.

[RickiTarr]

Really great news;

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57609494

[RickiTarr]

@Sophiederuges

France is a misogynist country. I’ve never felt so liberated as a woman as when I arrived in the U.K. You should just see the BTL comments on French articles from men who say any sympathy for Valérie is tantamount to sexism because if a man did this, “feminists” would screaming feminicide. I don’t even have words to express my anger and disgust.

You just have to dig into the Polanski debacle to see what French society is made of with regards to women’s and girls’ rights. Not to mention the opposition the government was faced with when a higher age of consent. Disgusting.

The catholic angle is a red herring. You have plenty of sex crime apologists on the left leaning, anticlerical “intellectual” elite.

I didn’t see your post earlier @Sophiederuges

It’s depressing and I’m sorry to hear you think it’s that bad.

[AssassinatedBeauty]

[quote RickiTarr]Really great news;

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57609494[/quote]

Does that mean she will definitely be freed? Or could the judge make a different decision? I don't know anything about how French trials work.

It's still wrong that she has a murder conviction and a suspended sentence, but if this is really true then at least she will have freedom and the chance to rebuild her life.