Overview

• Judges handed a four‑year sentence with two years to serve immediately, confirming a conviction issued on Friday in Le Havre.
• Ancillary measures include a court‑ordered course of psychiatric treatment, prohibitions on possessing animals or weapons, and a restriction on appearing in Seine‑Maritime.
• The case concerned 15 horses attacked around Angerville‑l’Orcher between March and August, leaving five dead and ten injured after nighttime assaults.
• Investigators linked the accused to the scenes via human blood traces and seized a blood‑stained cutter, a hammer and horse biscuits during searches, leading to his provisional detention on August 4.
• Prosecutors had sought five years in prison as the defense argued mental illness, but two psychiatric expert reports found no abolition or alteration of discernment, while owners and animal‑welfare groups joined as civil parties and protesters urged the maximum term.