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CRIME

French police search for baby kidnapped from hospital

A one-month-old baby girl was kidnapped late on Thursday from a hospital east of Paris, French police said on Friday, adding that her mother might be responsible.

Published: 19 January 2024 17:39 CET
French police search for baby kidnapped from hospital
This undated handout released by the French Interior Ministry, as part of the "Alerte Enlevement", an abduction alert procedure, shows the mother of Neilylah, female, 1 month old. (Photo by Handout / MINISTERE DE L'INTERIEUR / AFP)

Neilylah, a black girl with curly hair weighing around three kilos, was taken from the hospital in Meaux, around 40 kilometres east of the capital, police said.

Their main suspect is the baby’s mother Tracy Ngoie, 21, who also goes by the name Chelsea.

Also black and measuring around 173cm (5 feet eight inches) tall, Ngoie was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, grey trousers and a red beanie hat.

Meaux prosecutors will hold a press conference on the search at 7:00 pm.

Neilylah was removed from the Meaux hospital between 7:35 and 8:30 pm on Thursday.

Authorities have activated a special kidnapped minor protocol for the search, which has been used only around 30 times since its introduction in 2006.

Criteria for its activation include the kidnapped person’s health or life being in danger.

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CRIME

French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The head of France's top cinema institution Dominique Boutonnat denied sexually assaulting his godson as he went on trial Friday in a case that has led to calls for him to step down.

Published: 15 June 2024 12:59 CEST
French cinema boss on trial for sexual assault

The trial comes as French cinema reels from a renewed #MeToo reckoning that has seen several big names, including acting legend Gerard Depardieu, accused of sexual abuse.

READ ALSO: French actor Gérard Depardieu to be tried for sexual assault in October

Activists have denounced Boutonnat’s continued leadership of the National Centre of Cinema (CNC), whose role includes overseeing measures to curb sexual violence in the industry.

His godson accuses him of trying to masturbate him during a holiday in Greece in 2020 when he was 19.

“I looked at him to find my godfather and that’s when I saw someone completely different… It was someone using me to masturbate,” the godson, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court.

Boutonnat responded in court that it was his godson who had initiated the situation and kissed him.

“I feel bad about leaving an ambiguous situation, but to say there was a sexual assault is false,” he told the court.

He was placed under investigation in February 2021 but still reappointed by the government as head of the CNC in July 2022.

Training to prevent abuse has in recent months become obligatory for films seeking public funding via the CNC.

The CNC told AFP that the case against Boutonnat came from “the private sphere” and had no relation to its activities.

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