Convict gets 30 years for killing cellmate, then eating his lung

A FRENCH CONVICT who killed his cellmate and ate his lung has been sentenced to a 30-year prison term.

The court in Rouen ruled that Nicolas Cocaign (39) may not benefit from early release until he has served 20 years, and ordered that he receive psychiatric treatment. Cocaign had admitted killing his cellmate Thierry Baudry after they had a fight on January 2th, 2007.

He said he flew into an “uncontrollable” rage after his victim gave him a “dirty look” when he ordered him to wash his hands in the tiny cell they shared with a third inmate in Rouen.

“I had a sexual urge, an adrenaline rush,” Cocaign, whose bearded face is tattooed with bloody tears and a skull, told his trial.

Cocaign first strangled Baudry, then ripped out a piece of the victim’s lung and ate part of it raw before cooking the rest. “What I did, I liked doing,” he said.

The court had heard that Cocaign had a long history of mental problems. He had requested psychiatric help in 1998 and asked to be placed in isolation in 2006.

“It’s exceptional to see a psychologically disturbed person say ‘I have to be treated’,” said defence lawyer Fabien Picchiottino, noting the “failure of the psychiatric, penitentiary and social system”.

Cocaign also stressed his troubled background in his testimony: he was abandoned by his 21-year- old homeless mother and was cared for by the state until he was adopted at age three. From the age of six he was under the care of a psychologist.

Cocaign was in jail for armed robbery and was awaiting trial for attempted rape at the time of the killing. Baudry was serving a sentence for sexual assault.

The third cellmate was investigated over Baudry’s death but cleared of any wrongdoing. He later died by suicide.

Before the jury retired to deliberate, Cocaign addressed the mother, three sisters and brother of the victim.

“I want to apologise before the Baudry family,” he said, “if they accept my apology.”