For almost five years, Mohamed Bellahmed – the artist’s real name –, 29, subjected his victims to a very similar pattern of violence, the prosecutor pointed out.
Published on 05/07/2024 13:57 Updated on 05/07/2024 14:04
Reading time: 2 min Rapper Moha La Squale, in Paris, July 5, 2018. (DANIEL PIER / NURPHOTO / AFP)
Former rap star Moha La Squale, 29, was sentenced Friday, July 5 in Paris to four years in prison, one of which was suspended, for domestic violence, kidnapping and death threats once morest six ex-partners. The court ordered the continued detention of Mohamed Bellahmed – the artist’s real name – who has already spent nearly 17 months behind bars.
For almost five years (from 2017 to 2021), he subjected his victims to a very similar pattern of violence, the prosecutor’s representative pointed out before the criminal court. The young women were first “coaxed”then suffered psychological abuse (insults, humiliating remarks), death threats and finally physical abuse: slaps, hair pulling, strangulation, suffocation with a pillow, the magistrate explained.
During arguments, three of the six victims were also held captive by the defendant, who locked them in and took their phones to prevent them from calling for help, she insisted.
The six women have “unanimously” describes the “double visage” of their ex-partner, at the same time “sweet, kind, affectionate” but can also “to twist in a second and become this other person, jealous, angry, capricious, impulsive, violent and paranoid”the prosecutor stressed.
She also requested an injunction for psychological care for the rapper who, according to her, showed a “total lack of questioning” : he has repeatedly said that his accusers were lying and said he was the victim of a “conspiracy” from them. An argument “a little too easy” and which raises fears of a possible repetition of the facts, warned the magistrate.
On Wednesday, the artist became embroiled in sometimes contradictory statements regarding his romantic relationships. “toxic” : he had denied any physical violence towards the complainants but regretted having “hurts”.
Il “lives in an imaginary world where the spotlight is on him”, where his accusers would like “take that light away from him and shine it on them,” mocked lawyer Fabien Guilbaud, who is defending one of the plaintiffs.
Yet, “They don’t want to harm him, they want to help him! It’s surreal not to hear that.”exclaimed the lawyer. His colleagues from the civil party insisted on the “system of domination” imposed by the rapper on their clients or on the need to pose “a bandage on their wounds”.
One of the complainants, once more “terrified of walking in the neighborhood where they lived”hope “recover fragments of her life that he stole from her”another one is waiting “Let him get treatment, let him repair himself before he damages others”they explained.