A Paris criminal court on Friday sentenced 27-year-old Jordy Goukara, a Central African national, to 18 years in prison and a permanent ban from French territory for the 2023 rapes of Mathilde, 19, and Claire Geronimi, 26.
Both women were attacked in broad daylight on November 11, 2023, in upscale districts of the French capital. Each was followed into a building lobby, threatened with a makeshift blade, and assaulted. Intervention by passers-by forced the attacker to flee.
Goukara, in France since 2009, has 12 prior convictions for violent offenses and had been ordered to leave the country multiple times. He showed no remorse during the trial, repeatedly provoking the court and claiming his own life had been “an ordeal” since his arrest.
The court followed the prosecutor’s request for the maximum sentence, with Geronimi’s lawyer calling the ruling “a strong signal” given the severity of the crimes.
Goukara has 10 days to appeal the verdict.
