A court in Angoulême, France, has sentenced the 23-year-old childminder Selma Babbar to prison after 15 videos documented the severe abuse of an eight-month-old boy referred to as Louis. The babysitter’s surname suggests she has an immigrant background.
In court, Babbar claimed she had been exhausted and suffering from sleep deprivation because she had been looking after her cousins the night before. However, the 23-year-old had the energy to document the abuse with over a dozen recordings of the assaults on her mobile phone.
The assaults took place in the summer of 2026 in the municipality of Cognac in western France. Footage on the woman’s mobile phone showed how she hit, choked, pinched and verbally abused the defenceless boy, including by asking the infant if he was a racist.
The case came to light after the child’s mother discovered visible injuries on the baby’s face, which the childminder claimed were caused by the baby having fallen. A paediatrician was called in, who identified far more bruises and haemorrhages than would be consistent with injuries caused by a fall.
During the trial, the childminder was unable to provide any plausible explanation for her actions, even when confronted with the video footage. Eventually, she admitted to having developed a dislike for the boy.
The prosecutor requested that the childminder be sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, which is the most severe penalty under the law. The judge handed down a sentence of four years, one year of which was suspended. She was also banned for life from working with children.
leparisien.fr – my-angers.info – fdesouche.com
