Toulouse: on the darknet, he consulted child pornography sites
A 34-year-old Toulouse man was sentenced by the criminal court for having consulted for nearly one of the sites offering child pornography.
“First I want to say how ashamed I am to be in front of you for these facts.” Yet already convicted of sexual assault on a minor in 2012, Yann again went to the Toulouse Criminal Court. It was a report from the German police that allowed him to be traced. Investigations opened by the French police confirmed that from January 2020 to 2021, the 34-year-old man visited child pornography sites on the darknet, in exchange for cryptocurrency.
And not to a ban from the 2012 judgment, he has continued to exercise a professional activity in connection with minors since 2016. He admits having been in contact with minors as part of his activity as a photographer. “Following the 2012 trial, I had a constant need to undertake and create. I disregarded this ban. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong ”.
On his multiple visits to sites offering child pornography, this Toulouse-born, supported by his family, justifies himself, clumsily: “I heard about the darknet while watching documentaries. I was curious to go and see how it works. I came across a site that advertised itself as uncensored youporn and then got suggestions for other sites ”.
Shocked “like a child in front of a horror film”
And he adds: “I was shocked, like a child watching a horror movie. I did not experience any pleasure, but I did ”. In tears, he explains having liquidated his company, “his baby”, and having consulted a psychologist after his short stay in detention: “It is not normal what I did. I wanted to understand ”.
The prosecutor, before requesting two years in prison, including one with a probationary suspension, underlines his contradictions: “Why did you consult when you say you have taken no pleasure? You hide behind curiosity, but when you walk through the doors of the darknet, you walk through the doors of illegality. I do not believe for a single second his explanations. He paid for it! Since 2012, its problem remains topical. The drive is stronger than the illegality ”. In defense, Me Marie-Ange Alexis, pleads for a sentence “which must tend towards the accompaniment”. “The road is going to be long. It takes time to verbalize and explain, argues the lawyer. If we could have answers in a month, that would be known ”.
The court sentences him to ten months in prison and a definitive ban from exercising a professional or social activity in connection with minors. It will also be necessary to follow care within the framework of a socio-judicial follow-up.