Moroccan Child Abuse Case: Stepmother Jailed for 2012 Mistreatment of 10-Year-Old

The little girl lived through hell between May and December 2012, reports the newspaper Le Télégramme. She had just arrived from Morocco and it was following a hospitalization that the doctors noticed injuries leading them to make a report for abuse. "On her body, bruises, hematomas and older scars," writes the newspaper, according to which the stepmother and the father are placed in custody. However, neither admitted the violence against the victim and they claimed that the marks were either due to a fall down the stairs or the slide.

But nearly 7 years after the facts, the versions have radically changed. The stepmother now admits the violence. "I admit to having hit my stepdaughter. Why did I deny the facts? Because I was afraid of the truth and I’m not proud of what I did," she explains before the judge, blaming "her difficult marital relationship" and her decision to take revenge on the daughter.

Today 16 years old, the victim came to testify to her suffering in court. "My stepmother told me she was going to cut me to pieces if I told anyone about the violence," listing the cruelties suffered: "the hair she pulled, a broken arm that was never treated, blows with a broom handle and that telephone cable that whipped her." The father, now divorced, maintains his version and supports not having seen the blows on his daughter.

They were both sentenced to prison: six months suspended for the father, and three years in prison including two suspended for the ex-stepmother.