Tinder Terror: 18-Year Sentence Sought for Alleged Serial Rapist

According to the public prosecutor Christophe Auger, the requested sentence is justified by the "seriousness of the facts" and Berrada’s "positioning". For his part, the accused denies the facts, swearing that the relations with the plaintiffs were consensual or did not exist. "You are in reality a serial rapist and this is why you will be convicted," concluded Christophe Auger after more than three hours of requisition.

Aged 40, this former Moroccan photographer is accused of having raped or sexually assaulted 17 women between 2014 and 2016, after luring them to his home via messages on social networks or dating sites, for photo sessions. "You did not respect their freedom to consent to a sexual relationship," said the public prosecutor, before continuing: "They never saw you again. None of them became your friend... They were waiting for some acknowledgment of the facts [...] This was part of their reconstruction." In addition to the 18-year prison sentence, the public prosecutor also requested a permanent ban on the "Tinder rapist" from French territory.

Before the public prosecutor’s requisition, the lawyers of the 17 civil parties took the stand, asking the court to do justice to these alleged victims whose "bravery" and "courage" they praised. "I would like to be able to tell them [...] that this third of life that was stolen from them was not in vain," insisted Marjolaine Vignola, lawyer for three of them, describing a man who is not "addicted to sex or seduction" but "addicted to rape and domination". "There are wounds that cannot be seen but that one carries for a lifetime," added Camille Martini, lawyer for another plaintiff, for whom rape is "a weapon of destruction".

The Paris Criminal Court had sentenced Berrada to 18 years of criminal imprisonment, with an obligation to leave the territory, for having committed 12 rapes and three sexual assaults. It had acquitted him for two other plaintiffs. The "Tinder rapist" will be informed of his fate this Thursday. He faces 20 years in prison.