NANTES, France — A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended, after a French court convicted him in connection with a series of brutal attacks on 10 gay men in a Nantes park known as a meeting and cruising area for gay men.
Sophian M-Nebhi was sentenced by the criminal court in Nantes following a roughly five-hour trial over attacks committed during June and July 2025, when he was 18 years old. The court recognized an aggravating homophobic element in five of the attacks.
The attacks occurred in Beaulieu Natural Park, also known locally as the former Crapa park. Investigators said the victims were attacked in secluded sections of the park, which was already known as a meeting place for gay men.
Several victims described encounters that began with M-Nebhi allegedly using looks or gestures to encourage them to follow him deeper into the park.
One victim testified that he encountered M-Nebhi on June 19 at about 5 p.m. and interpreted his gestures as an invitation to follow him. The man said he secured his bicycle and followed before suddenly feeling an arm around his neck and losing consciousness. He did not wake up until approximately 10 or 10:30 that night, according to reporting on the trial.
Another victim described seeing what he called a “look of hate” immediately before being punched.
The violence varied between encounters but was severe. Testimony and court reporting described victims being punched, kicked, struck with sticks or branches and strangled until they lost consciousness. One man suffered a fractured jaw. M-Nebhi was described during the proceedings as athletic and as someone who practiced Thai boxing.
Prosecutor questioned robbery motive
M-Nebhi admitted committing theft and violence but disputed that he selected the men because they were gay.
He told the court that he needed money and believed men using the cruising area would make easier targets. He also acknowledged knowing the secluded portion of the park lacked surveillance cameras.
But prosecutors pointed to a major problem with a purely financial explanation: six of the 10 victims were not robbed at all.
According to prosecutor Thierry Rolland, the property taken in the remaining cases amounted to only several euros and two bags. Rolland argued that the circumstances showed M-Nebhi was deliberately searching for victims in a highly specific location and characterized several of the incidents as attacks involving violence without a meaningful financial payoff.
Court president Pierre-François Martineau also confronted M-Nebhi with the common characteristic shared by the victims: all 10 were gay.
M-Nebhi maintained that their sexual orientation was not his motive, saying his use of the park was connected to its proximity to his home. He apologized and told the victims he had learned from what happened.
His explanations had also changed during the case. Earlier reporting said he initially presented his actions as targeting men he described as “pedophiles,” while his later explanation centered on robbery and obtaining money.
Recognized by one of his alleged victims
The investigation came to a head on July 19, 2025.
A man who had previously been attacked spotted M-Nebhi in the park and believed he recognized him as his attacker. Police were called, and officers arriving at the park discovered another recently injured man. M-Nebhi was subsequently arrested. He was also prosecuted for resisting arrest.
The court heard psychological evidence describing M-Nebhi as having a “psychopathic personality without mental deficiency.” Earlier reporting on the investigation said psychiatric assessments also described impulsive, irritable and aggressive behavior. The description was presented as a clinical assessment in the criminal proceedings, not an independent characterization by news organizations.
The case also included another serious episode of violence after his arrest. Reporting from the trial states that M-Nebhi was separately sentenced to 18 months in prison after stabbing another detainee twice in the throat while in custody on Oct. 18, 2025.
Prison, treatment and restrictions
Following the Nantes trial, M-Nebhi received a four-year sentence, two years of which were suspended, meaning the sentence does not amount to four years of immediate incarceration.
The court also imposed several conditions. M-Nebhi must undergo mental health treatment and comply with a work requirement. He is prohibited from contacting the victims and banned from returning to Beaulieu Natural Park. He was also ordered to compensate the victims according to his financial means.
Although M-Nebhi continued to deny targeting the men because they were gay, the court recognized the homophobic aggravating circumstance in five of the attacks. The case therefore leaves a sharp distinction between the defendant’s stated motive and the court’s findings: all 10 victims were gay, all were attacked in a park known as a gay meeting place, but the homophobic aggravating circumstance was legally retained for five of the incidents.
