Overview
- A man armed with a rifle entered the small Bonnétable supérette on Friday, May 15 and demanded the till while an 11-year-old girl was briefly working behind the counter.
- The girl identified the attacker by his voice and told him to remove his hood, and her cries drew her father into the shop which prompted the assailant to hand over the weapon and surrender.
- The 26-year-old defendant told judges he had acted to get money quickly, was unemployed and living in precarious conditions, and was already known to police and under probation.
- He was tried at the Tribunal du Mans on May 18, admitted the facts, and received a mixed three-year sentence including two years prison and one year suspended with a one-month revocation of prior sursis.
- Magistrates ordered immediate custody so the defendant will serve 25 months in jail in total, a judgment that enforces prior sanctions and removes him from the local community in the near term.