In March 2017, the young Louna died as a result of Shaken Baby Syndrome. The two accused at the stand were her father, Sébastien, and her grandfather, Didier, the only two adults present at the time of the incident.
The Paris Assizes Court sentenced Louna’s father to five years in prison, with one year suspended, for causing her death in 2017 from Shaken Baby Syndrome. The child’s grandfather was acquitted.
In this unusual trial, the jurors had to choose a guilty party among the two accused. Sébastien D., 35, who was on trial alongside his father Didier, 61, was also sentenced to four years of social and judicial follow-up.
Both accused, as well as Louna’s mother Sandrine R., received the verdict in tears. The father was not arrested after the verdict, as the court did not issue an arrest warrant – he will be called in later for his incarceration.
The sentence given aligns with the requests made by the Attorney General Annabelle Philippe. The magistrate had stated on Thursday that she was convinced the grandfather did not commit the crime, adding “if it’s not one, it’s the other.” She had requested seven years of imprisonment for the father.
The two accused were the only adults alone with Louna on the evening of February 27, 2017, at their family home (the grandfather was hosting the parents and the child), before the mother raised the alarm around 10:40 pm due to the baby’s concerning state.
Hospitalized urgently, Louna had a fractured skull and subdural hematoma. These were typical injuries of Shaken Baby Syndrome, as stated by experts. She died in the hospital after six days in a coma.
During the investigation and throughout the hearings, Sébastien and Didier D. consistently claimed their innocence and did not incriminate each other. The father, however, mentioned at the end of the trial, “I have no memory of being able to harm my daughter.”
His lawyer, Me Merabi Murgulia, urged the jurors to acquit his client based on doubt and to consider both accused innocent. The grandfather’s defense similarly argued against the accusation, stating Didier R.’s guilt did not make sense.
This hypothesis would have required the sixty-year-old to harm the child in an extremely short time span (about two minutes), while he had just returned from work and the parents were in the adjacent room. Additionally, Louna was not crying, so he had no reason to be upset with her.
While Sébastien D. was described as a loving and present father, none mentioned any violence from his side. However, his workload and recent epileptic episode were factors to consider, leading to impulsive violence.
Beyond the facts, the denial and letting his father be accused were difficult to understand, as pointed out by the magistrate. Some defendants may “self-persuade” of their innocence due to the unbearable nature of the crimes, leading to a collapse in their personality.
