Rodrigues court: nine years in prison for incestuous grandfather

This verdict came at the Rodrigues court on May 13, 2024. Georges Françoise, a 78-year-old Rodriguan, was sentenced to nine years in prison for abusing his 12-year-old granddaughter. The offense was committed in October 2020.

Following this attack, the teenager became pregnant and had to undergo an abortion.

The septuagenarian faced a charge of “sexual intercourse with a specified person” at the Rodrigues court. He was accused of having abused his granddaughter, his daughter's child. He had pleaded guilty.

Georges Françoise had admitted, in his statements to the police, that he had abused the child since she was in grade 5. However, in this case, the Court only took into account the offense which occurred on 27 October 2020.

That day, while the minor was returning home after her exams, the accused called her to collect a letter intended for her father. As soon as she set foot in his house, he pounced on her. He forcibly dragged the child into her bedroom and had sex with her. She tried to push her grandfather away, but in vain. During the trial, the septuagenarian apologized to the court and expressed remorse.

The young victim's medical report, produced during the trial, showed that she had become pregnant. The report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), for its part, confirmed that it was indeed Georges Françoise who was the biological father of the fetus.

In his verdict, magistrate Devinash Oozageer highlighted that instead of protecting his granddaughter, the accused abused her. Furthermore, he believes, the fact that she became pregnant following this attack and had to undergo an abortion at the age of twelve will undoubtedly have consequences on her mental and physical health. Thus, the magistrate ruled that a prison sentence is amply justified.