A mother of four is on trial in France for killing her husband after decades of sexual, physical and psychological abuse that started when she was an adolescent. The case has drawn widespread attention and support for the defendant amid a national reckoning with long-held taboos around domestic abuse.
Valerie Bacot, 40, has admitted fatally shooting Daniel Polette in 2016. Polette was her stepfather before becoming her husband and allegedly forcing her into prostitution.
A verdict is expected Friday at the courthouse in Chalon-sur-Saone, in central France.
The prosecutor requested one year of prison and a four-year suspended sentence, meaning Bacot could walk out of the courthouse free because she has already served time in preventive detention. The prosecutor said he does not consider her a danger to society.
Advertisement
Bacot fainted while hearing the prosecutor’s requests Friday morning, leading to a suspension of the trial until midday.
At the trial, Bacot testified to the degree of control and influence that Polette — 25 years her senior — had over her.
Entertainment & Arts
Johnny Depp loses libel case against British tabloid that called him a ‘wife beater’
Entertainment & Arts
Johnny Depp loses libel case against British tabloid that called him a ‘wife beater’
A British judge rules that a tabloid newspaper did not defame actor Johnny Depp when it called him a ‘wife beater’ in an article two years ago.
“Yes, I killed him, but if I had not done it, my children would have,” Bacot said.
Polette entered Bacot’s life in 1992 as her mother’s companion. A few months later, the sexual abuse started. She was 12 when he began raping her, she said.
Polette’s sisters reached out to a social worker, and he was arrested in 1995 and convicted of sexual assault, spending two years in prison.
Afterward, Polette returned to the family home and started abusing Bacot again.
Science
Domestic violence rose during lockdown — and injuries are dramatically more severe, study finds
Science
Domestic violence rose during lockdown — and injuries are dramatically more severe, study finds
The incidence of injuries attributed to domestic partner violence rose sharply after the coronavirus outbreak began, and those injuries were more serious.
Advertisement
“When he came back, he said he would leave me alone. My mother had forgiven him. But it started again. Following a rape I got pregnant,” Bacot said. She was 17.
Her mother threw her out of the house and she started living with Polette, whom she described as having total control over her life.
He did not allow her to work or use contraception. She had three other children.
“He was beating me — slaps, then punches. He strangled me. He was beating, and then things were going better,” she said, adding that he also threatened her with a revolver.
Advertisement
Newsletter
Must-read stories from the L.A. Times
Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning.
Enter email address
Sign Me Up
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
In 2002, he forced her into prostitution, still controlling all of her actions, Bacot said.
In March 2016, following a violent prostitution-related situation, she shot Polette with the revolver. Her children helped bury the body, an act for which they were given suspended prison sentences.
Bacot was arrested by police the following year and imprisoned, before being released under judicial supervision in 2018 pending trial.
Advertisement
The psychologist who examined her said the protection of her children was key in Bacot’s reaction. In 2016, she feared Polette would assault her 14-year old daughter and force her into prostitution as well.
California
Domestic violence survivors, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department at odds over restraining orders
California
Domestic violence survivors, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department at odds over restraining orders
Advocates for victims of domestic violence are frustrated that the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department won’t serve restraining orders unless applicants submit paperwork in person.
A petition in Bacot’s behalf has gathered more than 680,000 signatures.
Family members came to the court to say they did not regret Polette’s death. His brother and sisters described him as a “monster.”
Advertisement
“The person I thank the most in the world is Valerie, because she killed him. She did what I should have done for a long time,” said Polette’s sister, 59. She said he raped her when she was 12.
Denis Prieur, a psychiatrist, said that at the time of the domestic abuse, Bacot no longer had free will. “She was not able to turn to the law [for assistance] because her husband was always there.”
California
Marilyn Manson target of L.A. County sheriff’s domestic abuse investigation
California
Marilyn Manson target of L.A. County sheriff’s domestic abuse investigation
Marilyn Manson, facing abuse accusations, is the target of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s criminal investigation into domestic violence allegations.
Now, “she has become somebody” and is not “a thing” anymore, he said.
Advertisement
Bacot’s case echoes that of another French woman, Jacqueline Sauvage, who was convicted of shooting and killing her allegedly violent husband. Sauvage was granted a presidential pardon in 2016, allowing her to get out of prison.
Sauvage had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for fatally shooting her husband three times in the back with a hunting rifle in 2012. During the trial, she said her husband had beaten her for 47 years. The couple’s adult daughters also said he had abused them.
The Associated Press doesn’t typically name victims of extremely severe abuse, but Bacot — like Sauvage — has told her story publicly.