A French court sentenced former banker Guillaume Bucci to 25 years in prison after disturbing testimony revealed years of abuse against his former girlfriend, who said she endured torture, humiliation, and sexual violence throughout their relationship.
According to the New York Post, the case has drawn national attention in France after the victim, identified publicly as Laetitia R., said she decided to speak out following another high-profile abuse case involving Gisèle Pelicot.
Laetitia testified that Bucci subjected her to years of degrading treatment between 2015 and 2022, forcing her into situations she described as terrifying and violent.
“Little by little, I felt like I was dying inside,” she told the court through tears, according to reports.
“With each practice imposed, there was a part of me that broke permanently.”
Bucci, 51, admitted to multiple acts described during the trial, including strangulation and burning, but argued they were part of consensual behavior.
He claimed he “did not think he was hurting her,” despite prosecutors presenting messages in which he allegedly threatened to kill her if she refused his demands.
Laetitia testified that she lived in “constant fear” during the relationship.
According to her testimony, Bucci gradually pressured her into sexual encounters with other men, beginning in 2015.
“I stopped counting at 487 men, some of whom I had seen up to 10 times,” she said.
She told investigators the men included “friends, colleagues, and strangers.”
One of the most disturbing allegations involved an encounter with a truck driver shortly after she gave birth to the couple’s daughter in 2017.
Laetitia said Bucci intentionally kept her conscious during the abuse.
“He said I needed to realize what was happening to me,” she told TF1’s “Sept à Huit.”
“I remember everything.”
The trial unfolded in the city of Digne-les-Bains, where prosecutors had pushed for a life sentence, arguing Bucci posed a continued threat to women.
Instead, the court sentenced him to 25 years in prison. Reports indicated he could potentially become eligible for parole after serving part of the sentence.
The case has drawn comparisons to the Pelicot scandal that shocked France in 2024, when Gisèle Pelicot’s husband was convicted after drugging her and allowing dozens of men to assault her.
Laetitia said Pelicot’s decision to identify herself publicly inspired her to tell her own story.
Throughout the proceedings, Laetitia described the emotional toll of years spent under what she called controlling and violent behavior.
She said the abuse destroyed parts of her life “little by little” over the course of seven years.
