France: 20-Year-Old Afghan Charged with Raping 80-Year-Old Woman

Victim died as a result of the rape

A 20-year-old Afghan man has been charged with the rape of an 80-year-old woman in the town of Niort, France, an attack that occurred in July 2025. As a result of the rape, the woman died, but according to the charges, the death was  "unintentional". The defendant is identified only as a 20-year-old Afghan national.

The article below from La Nouvelle République, which is translated by Fousesquawk, also refers to two similar cases that occurred in the same region in recent years. They are hyperlinked (in French). They are noted in the translation below by asterisks.

20-year-old man placed in pre-trial detention after the rape and murder of an 80-year-old woman in Niort at the beginning of summer

Caption: The crime was committed in Niort on the night of Saturday, July 5-Sunday, July 6, 2025: The case was assigned to the officers of the Organized and Specialized Crime Division in Poitiers.

By Aurelien Douillard   Posted 9-27-2025 at 12:37, updated on 9-27-2025 at 18:00

The Prosecutor's Office in Poitiers, responsible for criminal cases in Deux-Sevres, has just confirmed the arrest of a man suspected of rape leading to the unintentional death of a woman at the beginning of July 2025 in Niort: The victim was 80 years old.

The facts played out on the night of Saturday, the 5th to Sunday the 6th of July 2025 in Niort, but the Republic Prosecutor of Poitiers confirmed them on Friday evening, September 26: Rachel Bray stated that a man born in 2005 had been charged, "last week" for rape leading to unintentional death. This was, "at the end of his period of custody, carried out per the request of an investigating judge." In this case, " the Judicial Court of Poitiers has responsibility under the criminal division," the magistrate stated. The investigation is assigned to the investigators of the Organized and Specialized Crime Division of Poitiers, formerly the Judicial Police.

At least two previous cases since 2019

This case is reminiscent of two others that have occurred in the recent past in the department. One night in September 2019, a 20-year-old young man raped an 83-year-old pensioner in her residence in the Noirt city center. The criminal court of Deux-Sevres sentenced him in 2022 to 18 years imprisonment and to be then placed in social-judicial supervision for 7 years.*

In the summer of 2020, a (person on the fringes of society) sexually attacked and then murdered another 80-year-old woman in her home in Bressuire: He was sentenced, during the same Deux-Sevres Criminal Court court session, to 30 years imprisonment with a security period** of two decades, to be followed by 10 years of social-judicial supervision.***

Translator notes:

* The defendant's name in that case was Walid Jhihiri.

** Under French law, a security period is an initial period of the condemned's prison sentence in which he or she cannot file for a reduction in sentence.

*** The defendant's name in that case was Youssouf Bacar, a native of Mayotte, a French overseas possession.