Massoud S

A 19-year-old Afghan asylum seeker has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison after being caught in the act of sexually abusing livestock at an educational animal sanctuary.

Massoud S was handed a 30-month custodial sentence at the Aix-en-Provence courthouse following a one-hour jury deliberation on Monday, June 22. He was convicted of sexual assault and the serious abuse of five goats—one of which died from its injuries—and a six-month-old lamb.

The abuse took place between February and April of this year at Le Refuge d'un Moment, an educational farm and sanctuary located in Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille.

The sanctuary’s owner, Cassandra Sortino, first raised suspicions in February after staff discovered blood and rope marks on the legs of several animals. Following the discovery, the sanctuary installed CCTV cameras, which repeatedly captured the silhouette of a male intruder on nights preceding fresh evidence of abuse.

Local law enforcement subsequently launched a sting operation in April, catching Massoud S in the act behind one of the goats while wearing latex gloves.

Despite being caught by police and confronted with matching DNA evidence, the defendant maintained his innocence throughout the trial, telling the court, "I'm a normal person."

He claimed he had missed a train back to his asylum seeker center in Marseille and had simply sought shelter at the sanctuary for the night. The court heard that Massoud S arrived in France in November 2025 after losing his family in a bombing in Afghanistan, an event he claimed severely impacted his mental health.

However, a psychiatric assessment completed during his pretrial detention noted that the defendant minimized his actions, reportedly telling a doctor, "They're making a huge fuss about it when they're just animals."

In addition to his 30-month prison sentence, Massoud S has been permanently banned from entering French territory and added to the national registry of perpetrators of sexual and violent offenses.

Reflecting on the trial, sanctuary owner Cassandra Sortino expressed the lingering emotional toll on the farm's staff, stating, "We can't explain it morally. We feel like we've failed."

CATEGORISED AS CHILD SEX OFFENCES AS ONE LAMB WAS 6 MONTHS OLD