Autistic girl who was repeatedly raped by school taxi driver, 74, after ‘luring her with sweets’ demands life sentence

AN AUTISTIC teen girl sobbed as she took the stand to testify at the appeal of a school taxi driver who repeatedly raped her and gave her sweets. Lucie, whose name has been changed, was 11 when José B, now 74, repeatedly raped her while driving home from to school in Seine-et-Marne, east of Paris. Lucie was repeatedly raped by her school taxi driver when she was 11 Credit: Alamy José B, now 74, is now appealing his sentence Credit: Alamy The taxi driver was convicted in July 2025, but claimed his sentence was “too harsh”. He is appealing his 15-year sentence at the French court of appeal this week, and Lucie, now a teenager, has taken the stand to beg for a life sentence for her abuser. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! She sobbed in her fathers arms, before reading a statement to the court. The teen said: “I want him out of my life. I want him in prison for life. “I’m angry. I’m furious.” Prosecutor Rodolphe Juy-Birmann, said it was “very courageous of her to have come” to read her statement. The child’s dad sobbed as her video testimony from four years ago was shown to the court. A teaching assistant had asked Lucie where the sweets in her bag came from in April 2023. Most read in The Sun She replied that they had come from José the taxi driver, who had driven her to and from school every day for five months. Lucie mimicked what he was making her do in the back of the car, telling the school everything. Police then found tissues with semen on and a packet of sweets in the taxi driver’s car and arrested José. He would turn off the road and turn off the engine as he drove Lucie home, before forcing himself on the 11-year-old. José vehicle’s tracking device showed he had taken 26 unusual detours and stops in the seven months between October and April 2023 when he drove the child to and from school. He had retired as a bricklayer in 2015 and become a taxi driver, working for three separate providers of adapted taxis for disabled children. Before Lucie, a 13-year-old had accused him of touching her thigh and moving up to her groin while he was teaching her to drive and shift gears. He was suspended from his job, but wasn’t brought to trial until after Lucie’s case went to court in 2025, when he was given an 18 month prison sentence for the assault. He continued to work with disabled children between between 2019 and 2023 for two different companies. He was reportedly hired for his last job, where he raped and drove Lucie with just a phone call. Lucie’s mum fought back tears as she recounted the amount of help and therapy her daughter had needed after her ordeal. She said the trauma was “like a scar that will always be there but will heal”. Lucie’s dad told the court: “Every night I hear my daughter crying for help.” A verdict in José’s appeal is expected on Friday.