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LONDON – A Frenchman who threw an ashtray and hit a young woman in front of a Parisian cafe after clashing after hailing her was fined and sentenced to six months' imprisonment month.
The man, identified only as Firas M., 25, was convicted Thursday of "aggravated violence with an object used as a weapon". He will face another six months in jail if he reoffends in the next three years, according to a French court ruled.
He was also sentenced to pay 2,000 euros, about $ 2,300, to the victim, Marie Laguerre, a 22-year-old engineering student, and to the ban on contacting her.
Video sequences of the July meeting, posted on social media, has been viewed by millions of people around the world.
Although the assault was widely shared as an extreme case of sexual harassment, prosecutors said that there was no reason to charge him with this offense.
In the surveillance sequence, he can be seen taking an ashtray at the table of a nearby café and throwing it in Mrs. Laguerre's direction, before talking to her face to face. After a heated exchange, he hit her so hard that she struggled to stay upright.
The Paris court also ordered that the man, who was homeless and had already served a prison sentence for violence against his mother and for pimping, undergoes psychological treatment and takes part in a sensitization course on sexual violence.
Mrs. Laguerre had described in the French newspaper Libération was disappointed that his attacker would not be tried for sexual harassment as a "blow".
After the decision, however, she told the Agence France-Presse that she was pleased with the "balanced" award.
"What gives me the most satisfaction is the obligation to take this course," she said.
A little more than a week after the July meeting, the French government passed a law against verbal sexual harassment. Fines of up to € 750 may be imposed in case of street harassment, including disrespectful comments about women's appearance or clothing, intriguing calls, intrusive questions, unwanted follow-ups and upskirting "- take pictures surreptitiously under her skirt according to the legislation.
The new law has already been used: a man who made obscene comments to a woman on a bus in the Paris suburbs was fined € 300 last month.
"Unfortunately for us, the offense of verbal sexual harassment did not exist when Marie was assaulted," Laguerre's lawyer Noémie Saidi-Cottier told Libération.
Follow Anna Schaverien on Twitter: @annaschav.
Palko Karasz contributed to the reports.
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