Welfare prostitute expelled for extortion and blackmail

Posted17 December 2022, 08:22

Suisse: Welfare prostitute expelled for extortion and blackmail

The dismissal of a 30-year-old Congolese established since the age of 3 in the canton of Neuchâtel has been confirmed by the Federal Court. Justice deplores his “massive criminal energy”.

A prostitute from Neuchâtel will be deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

20min/Celia Nogler

The verdict of the Police Court condemning Philomène* to 20 months in prison for illegally obtaining social assistance benefits, extortion and blackmail, defamation, slander and threats had not satisfied anyone. The defendant and the Neuchâtel public prosecutor had appealed once morest this decision pronounced in April 2021. Eight months later, the sentence of the Cantonal Court was much tougher for the Congolese woman born in 1987. To the initial sanction, the Court added a ban on staying in Switzerland for a period of 5 years.

Moderately impaired capacity for discernment

Between 2018 and 2020, she had undeclared income from her activity as a prostitute in three French-speaking cantons, while she had been on social assistance since 2011. But other much more serious offenses are blamed on the thirties. A follower of sadomasochistic practices, Philomène blackmailed her clients.

She asked them for money by threatening to reveal everything to their relatives and colleagues. This notably enabled him to extract from them amounts of 20,000 fr., 2,815 fr. and 750 fr. She threatened with her wrath those who wanted to give up paid sex and subjected them to telephone harassment: up to 33 calls in a quarter of an hour, 20 audio messages in 38 minutes and 58 calls in one day for three respective victims. According to psychiatric expertise, the cocaine-addicted prostitute suffers from a borderline disorder and other mental disorders. But according to the shrink, his psychological fragility only moderately altered his degree of responsibility.

Philomène appealed to the Federal Court to challenge the decision of the Neuchâtel Cantonal Court prohibiting her from staying in Switzerland for a period of five years on the grounds that her expulsion would place her in a serious personal situation and that her private interest in remaining in Switzerland l outweighed the public interest in deportation. “The Federal Court does not adopt a schematic approach which would consist in presuming, from a certain duration of stay in Switzerland, that the foreigner is rooted there and therefore has a right of presence”, recalled the judges of Mon-Repos.

Not integrated

The TF followed the argument of the Cantonal Court, namely that even if she has lived there since she was 3 years old, the 30-year-old does not have “especially intense social and professional ties” in Switzerland and does not do well there. integrated. The TF considered that Philomène’s integration in the DRC might be crowned with success thanks to her CFC and the presence of her mother. The Federal Court also decried, like the Cantonal Court, the “massive criminal energy” of Philomène, whose criminal record already had two entries.

By rejecting Philomène’s appeal, the TF confirms the expulsion decision which targets the Congolese prostitute.

*Name known to the editorial staff

A chaotic childhood

Arrived in Switzerland at the age of 3 from the Democratic Republic of Congo with her brother and her father, but without her mother who remained in the country, Philomène had a very difficult childhood. Her father left Switzerland when she was 8 or 9 years old and left her to his partner. Philomème was placed in homes from the age of 12 and was monitored until she reached majority by the Service for the Protection of Minors. But she still managed to finish compulsory education and even obtained a CFC as a commercial employee and a maturity certificate. In September 2020, the 30-year-old undertook university training in International Business Management. She held a settlement permit (permit C).

(apn)