On Thursday, the French Public Prosecution requested that Saad Lamjarred be imprisoned for seven years on charges of sexual assault
On Friday, the Paris Criminal Court sentenced Moroccan star Saad Lamjarred to six years in prison for raping and beating a young woman in a hotel room in the French capital in October 2016.
After seven hours of deliberation, the court said it was “convinced” that the rape had occurred, “which was consistently and accurately described” by the civil plaintiff in the case, Laura B.
A detention order was issued, which means that Saad Lamjarred will be imprisoned immediately.
On Thursday, the French Public Prosecution requested that Saad Lamjarred be imprisoned for seven years on charges of sexual assault. The Moroccan singer denied on Wednesday before the Criminal Court in Paris that he had raped the young French woman, “Laura B.” or had a relationship with her.
Prosecutor Jean-Christophe Mollet said at the end of his pleading before the Criminal Court that “Lamre is guilty of rape,” also demanding that he be banned from entering France for five years following serving his sentence.
On Wednesday, the well-known singing star in the Arab world narrated the details of what happened when he met the young woman in October 2016.
Saad Lamjarred
His account initially coincided with that of Laura Tuesday, according to which the meeting between them took place in a luxurious nightclub in the French capital, and then they moved to his hotel room.
Lamjarred talked regarding what happened in the taxi, and he said, “One of us held the hand of the other, and praised her beauty.”
He added, “We hugged, and it was not a hug of friends… We had a crush on each other. It was not only physical, but I loved her personality even though we only spoke for two hours.”
In the room, they danced and talked, and then she said to him, “Sorry, I mightn’t kiss you in front of everyone.” He considered her mere words a “sign”, so he bent down and kissed her “a long kiss”. At this point, the divergence between the two accounts began.
Saad Lamjarred
“We danced, we listened to music, we had a variety of conversations,” Flora told the court on Tuesday. Then, “we kissed. Suddenly, he hit me on the head.”
The singer then ordered her to take off her shirt, and she obeyed, “terrified,” according to what she said, crying.
Laura continued her narration, indicating that she was unable to restrain Saad Lamjarred, who punched her and then raped her before she succeeded in repelling him by “biting him in the lower back and punching him,” before leaving the room, putting an end to this “nightmare.”
As for Lamjarred, who faces other very similar rape charges in Morocco, the United States and France, he recounted that they were undressing when he felt a “very painful scratch” on his back.
“I did something I regretted, I brutally pushed her in the face. It was an involuntary reaction, I’m not proud of it,” he added, noting that he had drank alcohol and used drugs.
“I shouldn’t have done that, a real man doesn’t do that,” he added.
Saad Lamjarred
He then addressed the judge, “Mr. President, I say it today and I will say it until my last breath: I, Saad Lamjarred, have never had sex with Laura B. in any way.”
Without turning around, he turned to Laura and said, “Sorry for the backlash, I didn’t want to make you cry.”
“On the other hand, my future, my family, my life and my reputation…we are both in a bad situation. I try to smile, make videos, but I don’t feel like smiling,” the singer, who has garnered hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, weeping.
Judge Frederick Allen asked him more than once, did he inquire of Laura “why did she act in this way” as long as it was a “misunderstanding”. Lamjarred replied: “I am not saying that she lied, but I say that she may have made a mistake.”
