Rape and murder of Iris in Lorient: Christophe R. sentenced to life imprisonment

After five days of debate before the Morbihan Assize Court, Christophe R., 53, was sentenced on Friday October 16 to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of Iris C. This 23-year-old young woman was kidnapped in Lorient on the night of May 26 to 27, 2023. The court attached his sentence to 22 years of security, in accordance with the requisitions of the attorney general.

That night, Iris had spent the evening in the bars downtown. In the early morning, she dozed against a low wall, near the sub-prefecture. CCTV cameras recorded a man approaching, leaving, returning, then taking it away. A few hours later, his body was found in Blavet, in Lanester. Forensic examinations establish that she was raped and that she died of asphyxiation.

Investigators trace Christophe R. by following the trail of a beige van seen near the scene of the kidnapping. Arrested two weeks after the events, this worker denies it. However, his DNA is found on Iris’s body. In her van, the police discovered a hair from the young woman and a tensioner bearing traces of her DNA. They also seized two knives, adhesive tape, a strap and several pairs of gloves: a set described as a “rape kit” by the investigating judge.

Already convicted but still in denial

Christophe R. had already appeared before this same criminal court in 2015; he was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape of a student, committed in 2001. She too had been attacked after an evening in a bar on Place Jules-Ferry, in Lorient. When Iris was killed, he was still the subject of socio-judicial monitoring, which was due to end in July 2023.

At the hearing, his numerous speeches did not provide the explanations expected by the civil parties. “He remained talkative throughout the trial,” reports their lawyer, Me Morgan Loret, to Le Figaro. He describes an accused who “constantly contradicted himself”, despite the questions of a president who remained, according to him, calm and patient. “The debate has never been able to approach the truth coming from him.”

When the verdict was announced, the lawyer described a “collapse” among Iris’s friends, but also a relief. “The civil party is relieved that it’s over.” In the box, according to him, Christophe R. had no reaction.