Overview

• The Val-de-Marne appeals court convicted Berrada of 13 rapes and 4 sexual assaults against 17 women for acts committed between 2014 and 2016.
• Judges accepted that several victims experienced rapid abnormal intoxication consistent with chemical submission or a state of stupefaction.
• The panel went beyond the prosecutor’s request for 18 years, imposing the 20-year statutory maximum and ordering Berrada to leave French territory.
• The court found he contacted women via dating apps or social networks and lured them home under the pretext of a photo shoot.
• Berrada, who maintains the encounters were consensual or did not occur, stood impassive as victims and their lawyers wept and thanked the court.