he beats an octogenarian whom he considers responsible for the death of his mother

The scene described at the Bergerac court hearing, this Tuesday, November 26, is extremely violent: an individual gets out of his vehicle armed with a cross key (1) and beats an 86-year-old man in full street. Death threats, spitting, kicks, key blows… the attack lasts several minutes, in Bergerac, this April 28, 2021.

The victim is seriously injured and has head trauma. His life-threatening prognosis is in jeopardy when emergency services take him to hospital. He will come out with an ITT of fifteen days.

“When I saw him, the blood rushed to my head. I was no longer myself”

The attacker is a 55-year-old from Bergerac whose mother had lived for around ten years with the man he had just left for dead. Ten days earlier, she died in the hospital, after being left in her bed, without eating or drinking and without hygienic care, according to the son, who considers neither more nor less than the man he attacked is responsible.

No more hate

At the court, three and a half years after the events, the accused calmly explains the facts and apologizes. “I wanted to see him because I was angry but I hadn’t planned anything. When I saw him, the blood rushed to my head. I was no longer myself. »

In front of the judges, he assures that he has taken a step back, that he no longer has hatred, that he understands the seriousness of his action and that one cannot take justice into one’s own hands. “I shouldn’t have, I want to reassure him, I won’t attack him again,” he said about the man he still meets regularly in Bergerac.

Found guilty, Karim Redjem was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, a ban on contact with the victim and compensation for the damage suffered (nearly 10,000 euros). His sentence will be reduced to home detention.

Regarding the death of his mother, it was clarified at the hearing that, despite the murky circumstances of this death, the investigation carried out following the filing of a complaint by another son of the deceased led to no further action being taken.

(1) Used to remove wheels.