A gut-wrenching and disturbing Netflix true crime docuseries, The Outreau Case: A French Nightmare, is captivating yet hard to endure because of the horrific crime it talks about. The four-part documentary deals with a nightmarish incident in the La Tour du Renard neighborhood of Outreau, France, where some adults, including a couple, were accused of sexually abusing seventeen children. Thierry Delay and Myriam Badaoui were the couple who sexually tortured their own four kids, ruining their childhoods for good. This shocking incident is one of the most perplexing and disturbing criminal cases in French history, and it has been brilliantly depicted in the series. Let’s talk about the mentally sickening crimes committed by this Delay-Badaoui couple that will leave you traumatized after watching the show.
What happened to Thierry Delay?
Thierry Delay and Myriam Badaoui were a married couple who had four sons, among whom Jonathan and Cherif Delay’s names were mostly heard. Thierry was the mastermind behind this filthy idea of harassing their children sexually, and his wife, Myriam also actively participated in this. Knowing the unspeakable crimes they had committed, we can tell how mentally twisted and disturbingly unhinged this couple must be. Sexual fetishes can differ from person to person, but when they involve a child, this is nothing but a horrible crime. Thierry and Myriam were not the only ones to blame, because many other people from their neighborhood and other different places joined them in their unforgivable endeavors. Thierry was a straight-up alcoholic, but alcohol cannot be the only reason for his pedophilic tendencies. He was sick in his head and needed a lifetime sentence. Not only child abuse, but he also had a collection of skulls, for which he ended up being prosecuted as well.
One day, when the school teachers and social workers noticed unusual behavior and sexual conversation between these four children of the Delay couple, they instantly informed the authorities, realizing that there was something significantly wrong with their parenting. After an extensive investigation, the police finally ordered the arrest of this couple in 2001. The trial began, but Myriam started taking the names of other people in their gang who tortured these children. David Delplanque, Aurelie Grenon, Sandrine Frank Lavier, and many more names were mentioned by Myriam.
Thierry initially denied his involvement in the whole mess, even though there were serious charges against him, accusing him of having videos of children getting tortured by him, but Thierry rejected these accusations and said that, no matter what he did, he never tried to harm his children. Even after putting all the blame on alcohol, Thierry couldn’t get away with his crime. Eventually, he confessed to his horrible crimes, and the court gave him a long-term sentence of 20 years in 2004.
However, Thierry didn’t rectify his mistakes or even try to become a better person, because someone who never realized how much torture he had inflicted upon his own children, would not be able to change himself. Even though Thierry was released in 2016 from Seysses Penitentiary Center, he didn’t back off from his horrible habit of sexually abusing people. After his release, he started living in the Pierre-Hanzel Center, but even there, he continued to maintain his lifestyle as a serial abuser, a perverted and disgusting man. Thierry sexually harassed several employees in that center, not once but twice, and went to prison multiple times. In 2020, he was sent to prison and had been given a 2-year sentence, but this is not enough in any possible way. Realizing that this man is an irredeemable criminal, it would be better if he’d been given a lifetime sentence to keep his ill habits in check.
What happened to Myriam Badaoui?
Myriam Badaoui was not much different from her perverted husband, Thierry, because even though she was a mother, the birthgiver of her own sons, she didn’t find anything wrong in traumatizing her children for life. After getting arrested and brought to court, Myriam began to call out names, and approximately 17 names were mentioned, in which she mentioned some people who had never joined them to carry out their unspeakable activities. Myriam wanted to go down, taking everyone along with her, but the prosecution struggled to find evidence to support her claims and statements. However, shockingly, it came as a twist in the story when Myriam completely changed her story and admitted that most of her statements were false. She mentioned the names of only four people, accusing them of being the ones whom she and her husband had influenced to harass the children. It means that the rest of the thirteen suspects didn’t even commit the crime, which made the story even more perplexing than it already was. However, Myriam’s confession to the crimes was unforgivable, and she was given a 15-year prison sentence. However, she had also been released from prison in 2011, with poor health status reported by her son, Jonathan Delay. But, just like Thierry, Myriam is also an irredeemable woman, making the two of them a perfect match made in heaven.
Myriam went on with a life of crime, but they were mostly theft or falsifying checks to earn quick money. Myriam was once again arrested by the authorities and put behind bars for these crimes. She was once again released from prison and decided to change her identity in order to remain hidden and to live her life the way she wanted. We don’t have a vivid knowledge of what Myriam Badaoui might be like now, but personally, I’m sure both I and anybody else who’s seen what she’s capable of would like her to be in prison for a lifetime because hers is an unforgivable offense that has robbed some people of their childhood tender memories.
The Outreau Case: A French Nightmare is a gripping Netflix documentary that cannot be watched very comfortably because of the information the series deals with. However, this kind of documentary is important to know the dark side of this world and to know more about the twisted human nature that is way beyond our imagination.
