At the court of Sables-d’Olonne (Vendée)
The scene, filmed by the two video surveillance cameras at the Challans hospital center (Vendée) and broadcast in the courtroom, lasts only a few minutes. The one and only punch, delivered to the back of the neck and of rare intensity, barely a second. At the beginning of April, a stretcher bearer was violently attacked while on duty just in front of the emergency entrance to the Vendée hospital.
The case, which moved the entire hospital community and well beyond, was judged this Friday at the Sables-d’Olonne court (Vendée). “I regret what I did, I couldn’t control myself, and then I had a black hole…” assures Lionel F., 23 years old, a burly man belonging to the community of people from journey. These repeated excuses from the defendant did not convince the court, which finally sentenced him to four years in prison this afternoon: two years in prison and two years of probation for three years.
“Three minutes doesn’t go fast enough!” ? »
What really happened between the moment when two seriously burned patients presented themselves to the emergency room accompanied by their families, this Saturday, April 6, and the moment when a paramedic collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood? If the video surveillance images are silent, they filmed everything, between 12:22 p.m. and 12:25 p.m. And two versions clash on what could have happened… in just three minutes.
“They had the feeling of not being taken care of,” assures Me André Raiffaud, the defense lawyer. This wait seemed enormous to them and they did not understand why they were not a priority. » “I was afraid that they would die, I was panicked,” continues the defendant, heavily intoxicated when he arrived at the hospital in a construction truck with his father and his cousin, both electrified. A widely contested version. “We didn’t put them out!”, annoys the president of the court. They entered the airlock to be examined… Three minutes isn’t fast enough for you? ! Why are you angry? »
“Dirty gypsies”
The young scrap dealer from Orne, head shaved on the sides, mutters. “I would not have hit him if he had not made the remarks he made…” The one who is also on trial for having demolished the entrance door to the emergency room assures him: if he carried his anger at an ambulance driver who happened to pass by, before fleeing with the rest of the group including the two injured, it is because he was discriminated against. The victim, who was leaving the building for his lunch break, was reportedly arrested by the panicked group. She allegedly told them that she was not able to help them, calling them “dirty gypsies”, according to the accused.
Apart from a few members of Lionel’s family, arrested two days after the incident, no one would have heard the paramedic utter these words. “A decoy, a provocation”, believe the civil parties. “Psychological violence in addition to the physical violence suffered by this gentleman, who was left on the ground for a long time,” laments the public prosecutor, Gwénaelle Coto, who had requested the maximum sentence, five years in prison.
The “extremely traumatized” stretcher bearer
Impossible, in any case, to ask the victim directly. These nursing staff, who were due to retire soon, are absent from the room. He would have “even hesitated to become a civil party”, for fear of reprisals, according to his lawyer Franck Boezec.
Seriously injured in the face, suffering from several fractures perhaps still requiring surgery, he is still “extremely traumatized”, testifies the director of the Challans hospital at the stand. “Public service agents are committed people and make it a point of honor to take care of everyone, regardless of origin,” he adds, very moved, describing someone as gentle and dedicated. It’s their pride. »
In front of his tearful family, who came in large numbers to the Sables-d’Olonne court this Friday, the defendant (who already had six entries on his record for theft and driving without a license) went straight back to prison. In addition to the sentence, Lionel F. will have to receive treatment and not come into contact with his victim, nor appear in Vendée. He was also ordered to pay 10,000 euros to the hospital. The damages he will have to pay to the stretcher bearer will be the subject of a second hearing.
