French Couple Loses Parental Rights over Alleged Attempt to ‘Sacrifice' Son in Morocco Desert
AFP reported today that the parents were partially acquitted on Thursday, but the court stripped them of their parental authority.
The judge said there is no evidence that could support the criminal conspiracy the couple was facing, rejecting the public prosecutor's prison sentences.
The prosecutor demanded six years in prison for the father and four years for the mother.
The father and mother both receive a suspended sentence of 18 months for failing in their legal responsibilities as parents, with a two-year probationary period and a mandatory psychiatric care order for the father.
An acquaintance of the father filed a complaint against him after he allegedly said he and his wife would take their 'possessed' child to Morocco's desert for a sacrifice ritual.
During the trial held on Thursday, the father said he never wanted to harm his son.
Both couples were arrested in Spain on December 21 in Algeciras, where they were about to board a ferry by car to Tangier.
The prosecutor defended the child, saying the parents abandoned their jobs and their home, without packing any clothes.
'Everything was clearly planned, well organized,' the prosecutor said in front of the judge, noting that they threw away their phones and tablets, to possibly avoid being tracked.
'They intended to exorcise their son in Morocco and sacrifice him on Christmas Day, as he could be resurrected like Jesus, you can't make this stuff up,' the prosecutor said.
A concerned relative filed a report on the couple's relatives. The report included distributing comments AFP reported.
AFP said Florian said he 'encountered God in November 2023,' claiming that God 'asked him to be his armed hand.'
The gendarmerie found him naked in the Medoc forest near Bordeaux during a storm.
He was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to delusional episodes.
The son's mother commented on the charges they face, claiming that they planned to go on vacation to Morocco to find peace.
'A rushed departure doesn't mean a deadly plan was being prepared,' the father's lawyer said.
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