AMANDINE FLORES, STARVED TO DEATH AT 13 | Enquêtes criminelles | W9

This is the case that shook France at the start of 2025. A trial has just taken place in the Montpellier Assize Court (Hérault) that will live long in the memory, and perhaps finally raise awareness of child abuse.

Amandine Florès, aged 13, died in atrocious conditions on August 6, 2020 in Montblanc, some ten kilometers from Béziers. The young girl succumbed to cardiac arrest caused by extreme starvation. At the time of her death, she weighed just 28 kilos and was 1.55 metres tall.

From an early age, the teenager had been abused by her mother, Sandrine Pissarra. The latter is said to have developed a real hatred for her daughter, whose only crime was to look like her father.

In March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning, the announcement of confinement sealed Amandine’s fate. When the boarding-school student was forced to return to her mother’s home full-time, she reportedly made a chilling statement to a supervisor: “I’m going to die.” And indeed, Amandine was reportedly locked in a cubbyhole, without food, and subjected to violence and humiliation without anyone coming to her aid. Her mother had even installed a camera to keep an eye on her.

How, then, could a mother take such a hard line against her own daughter? And how could she put her through such horrors for so many years without ever being bothered? And why, despite several reports, did Sandrine Pissarra manage to deceive the social services?

Frédéric Florès, Amandine’s father, speaks for “Criminal Investigations”. Devastated by what happened to his daughter, he now wants to fight to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.

At the end of the hearings, Amandine’s mother was sentenced to life imprisonment with 20 years’ security for acts of torture and barbarism resulting in death. Her stepfather, Jean-Michel Cros, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for deprivation of care and maintenance, and failure to assist a person in danger.