chargement...
Late Tuesday night, the Court of First Instance in Beni Mellal handed down its verdict against four men prosecuted in the rape case involving Hayat, a young woman with impaired mental capacities from the village of Bouidmouma in the commune of Aghbala. Each defendant was sentenced to five years in prison after being tried while at liberty on charges of «raping a girl known to have impaired mental faculties», according to Ahmed Qassid, the victim’s lawyer, speaking to Yabiladi.
Qassid said he filed an appeal against the ruling on Wednesday, arguing that the sentence was «insufficient and does not reflect the gravity of the acts committed».
For his part, Lahcen, the victim’s 37-year-old cousin, who supports the 13-member family living under one roof, told Yabiladi that the four defendants denied during Tuesday’s hearing that they knew the 24-year-old victim, despite all living in the same village. He described the sentences as «very lenient given the seriousness of the crimes».
The victim gave birth following the rape
Lahcen explained that the victim gave birth in January to a child conceived as a result of the rape, adding that the baby is now being cared for by the victim’s mother due to Hayat’s physical and mental condition.
The case dates back to last December, when the family discovered that the victim, whose level of understanding is comparable to that of a young child because of her intellectual disability, was five months pregnant. She later told relatives that four men had taken turns raping her, including a man the family suspects was also involved in a sexual assault she suffered in 2018, which resulted in the birth of a child who is now seven years old.
According to her cousin, the victim had concealed the attacker’s true identity at the time out of fear and instead gave investigators a false name. DNA tests later showed that the accused man was not the perpetrator, and the case was eventually closed without identifying the real assailant.
The victim’s family lives in difficult social conditions in a mud-brick house lacking basic necessities, including water, electricity, and essential facilities. Lahcen, who supports the household, has himself been battling cancer since 2024, forcing him to stop working as a blacksmith.
